Meaning & use
Monera
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Meaning
proper nounproperbiologytechnical
An old biological kingdom containing all single-celled organisms without a nucleus, mainly bacteria.
Grammar: Capitalized and treated as a name; it is now mostly historical.
Patterns
- kingdom Monera
- classified as Monera
In the five-kingdom system, bacteria were placed in the kingdom Monera.
Textbooks written decades ago describe Monera as one of the basic groups of living things.
Genetic evidence later showed that the organisms in Monera belong to two very different domains.
Common combinations
- kingdom Monera
- Bacteria once belonged to the kingdom Monera.
- classified in Monera
- Blue-green algae were classified in Monera.
- the Monera
- Biologists once treated the Monera as one natural group.
- five-kingdom system
- Monera appears in the five-kingdom system of classification.
- members of Monera
- Members of Monera lack a true nucleus.
Synonyms and how they differ
- prokaryotes
- This is the modern, wider term for organisms without a nucleus, and it describes a cell type and not a formal kingdom.
- bacteria
- It is the everyday name for most of the organisms once placed in Monera, but today archaea are separated from them.
Opposites
Word family
- moneran noun
- a member of Monera
- moneron noun
- an organism of Monera, singular form
- prokaryote noun
- a cell or organism without a nucleus
Commonly confused: Monera or Protista?
Monera vs Protista
Protista is the kingdom of mostly single-celled organisms with a nucleus, such as amoebas. Monera were single-celled organisms without a nucleus.
Practice
In the old five-kingdom system, which organisms were placed in Monera?
Choose one answer.
Monera grouped prokaryotes, which are mostly bacteria. Amoebas belong to the kingdom of protists, so they are the tempting wrong answer.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “Monera”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.