animate thing, living thing - a living (or once living) entity

benthos - organisms (plants and animals) that live at or near the bottom of a sea

heterotroph - an organism that depends on complex organic substances for nutrition

cell - (biology) the basic structural and functional unit of all organisms; cells may exist as independent units of life (as in monads) or may form colonies or tissues as in higher plants and animals

human, individual, mortal, person, somebody, someone, soul - a human being; "there was too much for one person to do"

animal, animate being, beast, creature, fauna, brute - a living organism characterized by voluntary movement

plant life, flora, plant - a living organism lacking the power of locomotion

conspecific - an organism belonging to the same species as another organism

denizen - a plant or animal naturalized in a region; "denizens of field and forest"; "denizens of the deep"

amphidiploid - (genetics) an organism or cell having a diploid set of chromosomes from each parent

diploid - (genetics) an organism or cell having two sets of chromosomes or twice the haploid number

haploid - (genetics) an organism or cell having only one complete set of chromosomes

heteroploid - (genetics) an organism or cell having a chromosome number that is not an even multiple of the haploid chromosome number for that species

polyploid - (genetics) an organism or cell having more than twice the haploid number of chromosomes

animalcule, animalculum - microscopic organism such as an amoeba or paramecium

microorganism - any organism of microscopic size

aerobe - an organism especially a bacterium that requires air or free oxygen for life

anaerobe - an organism (especially a bacterium) that does not require air or free oxygen to live

crossbreed, hybrid, cross - an organism that is the offspring of genetically dissimilar parents or stock; especially offspring produced by breeding plants or animals of different varieties or breeds or species; "a mule is a cross between a horse and a donkey"

polymorph - an organism that can assume more than one adult form as in the castes of ants or termites

congenator, congener, relative - an animal or plant that bears a relationship to another (as related by common descent or by membership in the same genus)

plankton - the aggregate of small plant and animal organisms that float or drift in great numbers in fresh or salt water

nekton - the aggregate of actively swimming animals in a body of water ranging from microscopic organisms to whales

parasite - an animal or plant that lives in or on a host (another animal or plant); the parasite obtains nourishment from the host without benefiting or killing the host

host - an animal or plant that nourishes and supports a parasite; the host does not benefit and is often harmed by the association

commensal - either of two different animal or plant species living in close association but not interdependent

myrmecophile - an organism such as an insect that habitually shares the nest of a species of ant

eucaryote, eukaryote - an organism with cells characteristic of all life forms except primitive microorganisms such as bacteria; i.e. an organism with `good' or membrane-bound nuclei in its cells

procaryote, prokaryote - a unicellular organism having cells lacking membrane-bound nuclei; bacteria are the prime example but also included are blue-green algae and actinomycetes and mycoplasma

zooid - one of the distinct individuals forming a colonial animal such as a bryozoan or hydrozoan

body part - any part of an organism such as an organ or extremity

tissue - a part of an organism consisting of an aggregate of cells having a similar structure and function

fertilized ovum, zygote - the cell resulting from the union of an ovum and a spermatozoon (including the organism that develops from that cell)

parthenote - a cell resulting from parthenogenesis

organic chemistry - the chemistry of compounds containing carbon (originally defined as the chemistry of substances produced by living organisms but now extended to substances synthesized artificially)

clon, clone - a group of genetically identical cells or organisms derived from a single cell or individual by some kind of asexual reproduction

system, scheme - a group of independent but interrelated elements comprising a unified whole; "a vast system of production and distribution and consumption keep the country going"