English Explanatory Dictionary

meiosis

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A figure of speech whereby something is made to seem smaller or less important than it actually is.
  2. Cell division of a diploid cell into four haploid cells, which develop to produce gametes.

Pronunciation

/maɪˈəʊ.sɪs/ /maɪˈoʊ.sɪs/ en-us-meiosis.ogg

Word forms

meiosis meioses maiosis miosis

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μείωσις (meíōsis, “a lessening”), from μειόω (meióō, “I lessen”), from μείων (meíōn, “less”). The biological sense was coined by British biologists John Bretland Farmer and John Edmund Sharrock Moore in 1905 as maiosis in a paper in the Quarterly Journal of Microscopic Science, with the spelling corrected on etymological grounds later that year. Doublet of miosis.

Synonyms

understatement reduction division

Antonyms

hyperbole overstatement exaggeration auxesis

Derived words

apomeiosis meiome meiotic meiotically postmeiosis premeiosis
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