Meaning & use
organism
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Meanings
nouncountablebiology
Any single living thing, such as an animal, plant, fungus or bacterium.
Grammar: Always used in the singular or plural with a determiner: an organism, these organisms.
Patterns
- a living organism
- a single-celled organism
A bacterium is a single-celled organism.
The pond contains thousands of tiny organisms.
Every living organism needs some form of energy.
nouncountablefigurative
A complex system with many parts that depend on one another, such as a society or company.
Grammar: Figurative use: the organization behaves like an organism.
Patterns
- a social organism
The city works like a single organism, with each district playing a part.
He described the company as a living organism that has to adapt.
Word forms
| plural | organisms |
|---|
Common combinations
- a living organism
- Every living organism is made of cells.
- a single-celled organism
- The amoeba is a single-celled organism.
- microscopic organisms
- Microscopic organisms float in the sea.
- genetically modified organism
- The crop is a genetically modified organism.
- host organism
- The parasite lives inside its host organism.
Synonyms and how they differ
- creature
- Creature normally means an animal and is less scientific, whereas organism includes plants and microbes.
- being
- Being, as in a living being, is a general word often used for people, whereas organism is technical.
- life form
- Life form is common in science fiction and sounds less formal than organism.
- microbe
- A microbe is only a microscopic organism, so it is narrower than organism.
Opposites
Word family
- organic adjective
- relating to living things or grown without artificial chemicals
- organ noun
- a part of an organism with a particular job
- organize verb
- to arrange in an orderly way
- microorganism noun
- an organism too small to see without a microscope
Commonly confused: organism or organization?
organism vs organization
An organization is a group of people with a shared purpose, while an organism is a living thing.
Practice
Which of these is an organism?
Choose one answer.
A mushroom is a fungus, a living thing. Rocks, currents and water are not alive.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “organism”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.