English Explanatory Dictionary

polymorphism

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The ability to assume different forms or shapes.
  2. The coexistence, in the same locality, of two or more distinct forms independent of sex, not connected by intermediate gradations, but produced from common parents.
  3. A feature pertaining to the dynamic treatment of data elements based on their type, allowing for a method to have several definitions.
  4. The property of certain typed formal systems of allowing for the use of type variables and binders/quantifiers over those type variables; likewise, the property of certain expressions (within such typed formal systems) of making use of at least one such typed variable.
  5. The ability of a solid material to exist in more than one form or crystal structure; pleomorphism.
  6. The regular existence of two or more different genotypes within a given species or population; also, variability of amino acid sequences within a gene's protein.

Pronunciation

/pɒlɪˈmɔːfɪz(ə)m/ päl-ē-môrʹfĭz-əm /pɑliˈmɔɹfɪz(ə)m/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Qwertygiy-polymorphism.wav

Word forms

polymorphism polymorphisms

Etymology

* (object-oriented programming) Coined by British computer scientist Christopher Strachey in 1967. By surface analysis, poly- + -morphism.

Related words

dimorphism metamorphism monomorphism polymorph polymorphic polymorphistic polymorphous RFLP riflip

Derived words

micropolymorphism

Translations

Catalan: polimorfisme Dutch: polymorfisme Finnish: polymorfia Finnish: polymorfismi French: polymorphisme Greek: πολυμορφισμός Icelandic: fjölbrigðni Icelandic: fjölbreytni Italian: polimorfismo Japanese: 多形 Japanese: 同質異像 Kazakh: полиморфизм Polish: polimorfizm Portuguese: polimorfismo Serbo-Croatian: polimorfizam Ukrainian: поліморфі́зм
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on P Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary