Definition of Mutation

1. Noun. (biology) an organism that has characteristics resulting from chromosomal alteration.

Exact synonyms: Mutant, Sport, Variation
Generic synonyms: Being, Organism
Category relationships: Biological Science, Biology
Specialized synonyms: Freak, Lusus Naturae, Monster, Monstrosity
Derivative terms: Mutant, Mutate, Mutate, Mutational, Vary

2. Noun. (genetics) any event that changes genetic structure; any alteration in the inherited nucleic acid sequence of the genotype of an organism.
Exact synonyms: Chromosomal Mutation, Genetic Mutation
Category relationships: Genetic Science, Genetics
Generic synonyms: Alteration, Change, Modification
Specialized synonyms: Deletion, Inversion, Transposition, Gene Mutation, Point Mutation, Reversion, Saltation
Terms within: Mutagenesis
Derivative terms: Mutate, Mutational

3. Noun. A change or alteration in form or qualities.
Generic synonyms: Alteration, Change, Modification
Derivative terms: Mutational

Definition of Mutation

1. n. Change; alteration, either in form or qualities.

2. n. Gradual definitely tending variation, such as may be observed in a group of organisms in the fossils of successive geological levels.

Definition of Mutation

1. Noun. any alteration or change ¹

2. Noun. (genetics) Any heritable change of the base-pair sequence of genetic material ¹

3. Noun. a mutant ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Mutation

1. the act of changing [n -S] : MUTATIVE [adj]

Medical Definition of Mutation

1. 1. A change in form, quality or some other characteristic. 2. A permanent transmissible change in the genetic material, usually in a single gene. Also, an individual exhibiting such a change. Also called (in classical genetics) a sport. Origin: L. Mutatio from mutare = to change This entry appears with permission from the Dictionary of Cell and Molecular Biology (11 Mar 2008)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Mutation

mutants
mutarotase
mutarotation
mutarotations
mutasarrif
mutasarrifs
mutase
mutases
mutasynthesis
mutate
mutated
mutated contraction
mutates
mutatin'
mutating
mutation (current term)
mutation rate
mutational
mutational frequency
mutationally
mutationless
mutations
mutatis characteribus
mutatis mutandis
mutative
mutator
mutators
mutatory
mutawa
mutaween

Literary usage of Mutation

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. A Grammar of the German Language: Designed for a Thoro and Practical Study by George Oliver Curme (1922)
"The cause of mutation, which in German began to develop about the middle of the ... The mutation of a was in earlier times written e, which is in part still ..."

2. Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature by Anna Lorraine Guthrie, Marion A. Knight, H.W. Wilson Company, Estella E. Painter (1920)
"Bot Gaz 63:82-3 Ja '17 mutation theory and the species-concept. RR Hates. ... Status of the mutation theory, with especial reference to oenothera. ..."

3. Native Writings in Massachusett by Ives Goddard, Kathleen Joan Bragdon (1988)
"The mutation of |n| is a living process in Massachusett only in TA verb stems, ... In Inflection | t| undergoes mutation before the initial vowel of the ..."

4. The American Year Book by Simon Newton Dexter North, Francis Graham Wickware, Albert Bushnell Hart (1917)
"Of especial merit are Gates' "The mutation Factor in Evolution"; JA Thomson, ... Variation and mutation.—A sharp decline in activities in the fields of ..."

5. Preventive Medicine and Hygiene by Milton Joseph Rosenau, George Chandler Whipple, John William Trask, Thomas William Salmon (1921)
"The brilliancy of the mutation theory of DeVries. coupled with his great service to biology in rediscovering the Mendelian laws, lias somewhat dazzled our ..."

6. Evolution, racial and habitudinal by John Thomas Gulick (1905)
"mutation as recently expounded by DC Vries. As "Species and Varieties, Their Origin by mutation," by De Vries, 1905, has appeared while the present volume ..."

7. German Orthography and Phonology: A Treatise with a Word-list by George Hempl (1897)
"1) Assimilation may pass on through several sounds, for ex., in mutation (German ... 2) By mutation we understand, then, the change produced in a vowel by a ..."

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