Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Having different forms at different periods of the life cycle, as in stages of insect metamorphosis.
- adjective Differing from the standard form in size or structure.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Deviating in form from a given type or standard; of irregular, abnormal, or unusual structure or composition.
- In entomology, undergoing entire transformation or complete metamorphosis; metabolous; specifically, pertaining to or having the characters of the Heteromorpha or Heteromorphæ.
- Also
heteromorphous . - Of or pertaining to heteromorphism, in any sense of that word.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective (Biol.) Deviating from the normal, perfect, or mature form; having different forms at different stages of existence, or in different individuals of the same species; -- applied especially to insects in which there is a wide difference of form between the larva and the adult, and to plants having more than one form of flower.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective biology Having
different forms in differentstages of thelife cycle - adjective Differing in
size orstructure from thenormal
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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It's very heteromorphic, meaning it's deviated from the norm - that norm being freedom to choose and freedom of speech in America.
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Huge heteromorphic creatures cleaved themselves from the walls and lunged at one another.
Reap the Whirlwind David Mack 2007
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Huge heteromorphic creatures cleaved themselves from the walls and lunged at one another.
Reap the Whirlwind David Mack 2007
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Huge heteromorphic creatures cleaved themselves from the walls and lunged at one another.
Reap the Whirlwind David Mack 2007
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Huge heteromorphic creatures cleaved themselves from the walls and lunged at one another.
Reap the Whirlwind David Mack 2007
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The occurrence of heteromorphic unions renders it necessary to keep in mind that plants hermaphrodite as to structure are by no means necessarily so as to function.
Vegetable Teratology An Account of the Principal Deviations from the Usual Construction of Plants Maxwell T. Masters
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I find that the mid-styled (by variation) P. sinensis is more fertile with own pollen, even, than a heteromorphic union!
More Letters of Charles Darwin — Volume 2 Charles Darwin 1845
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Red cowslip by variation has become non-dimorphic, and with this change of structure has become much more productive of seed than even the heteromorphic union of the common cowslip.
More Letters of Charles Darwin — Volume 2 Charles Darwin 1845
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"Forms of Flowers," De Candolle's criticism of Darwin's. homomorphic and heteromorphic unions described in.
More Letters of Charles Darwin — Volume 2 Charles Darwin 1845
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Based on physical experiences, the brain forms metaphors (heteromorphic, isofunctional, relational patterns) to understand one kind of experience in terms of another.
Neuroanthropology Paul Mason 2010
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