Learning / English Dictionary

SYMBIOTIC

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Used of organisms (especially of different species) living together but not necessarily in a relation beneficial to each

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

dependent (relying on or requiring a person or thing for support, supply, or what is needed)

Domain category:

biological science; biology (the science that studies living organisms)

Derivation:

symbiosis (the relation between two different species of organisms that are interdependent; each gains benefits from the other)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Limestone surfaces are also more likely to harbor lichens — symbiotic communities composed of fungi and photosynthesizing cyanobacteria or algae.

(Tales from the crypt: Life after death in a graveyard, National Science Foundation)

For millions of years, symbiotic bacteria have lived inside the gills of Lucinidae clams found in seagrass meadows located along tropical coasts, such as the Florida Keys.

(Microbe diversity is key to healthy coastal ecosystems, National Science Foundation)