soma

¹ American  

[soh-muh] / ˈsoʊ mə /

noun

Biology.

plural

somata, somas

1. the body of an organism as contrasted with its germ cells.

---

soma ² American  

[soh-muh] / ˈsoʊ mə /

noun

1. haoma.

---

Soma ³ American  

[soh-muh] / ˈsoʊ mə /

Pharmacology, Trademark.

1. a brand of carisoprodol.

---

-soma ⁴ American  

1. a variant of -some, used especially in the formation of names of zoological genera.

   Schistosoma.

---

soma ¹ British  

/ ˈsəʊmə /

noun

1. the body of an organism, esp an animal, as distinct from the germ cells

---

soma ² British  

/ ˈsəʊmə /

noun

1. an intoxicating plant juice drink used in Vedic rituals

---

Etymology

Origin of soma¹

1830–40; < New Latin < Greek sôma body

Origin of soma²

Borrowed into English from Sanskrit around 1820–30

Origin of -soma⁴

< New Latin < Greek sôma

Example Sentences

Shanghai feels like it’s having a soma moment.

From Washington Post • Dec. 31, 2022

A bipolar neuron has one axon and one dendrite extending from the soma.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

A pseudounipolar cell has a single process that extends from the soma, like a unipolar cell, but this process later branches into two distinct structures, like a bipolar cell.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

Dendrites receive the signal as it passes through the soma.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

Touched, Bernard felt himself at the same time humiliated by this magnanimity—a magnanimity the more extraordinary and therefore the more humiliating in that it owed nothing to soma and everything to Helmholtz’s character.

From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley

Related Words

• stalk
• stem
• torso