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Synonyms

fibril

American  
[fahy-bruhl, fib-ruhl] / ˈfaɪ brəl, ˈfɪb rəl /

noun

  1. a small or fine fiber or filament.

  2. Botany. any of the delicate hairs on the young roots of some plants.

  3. Cell Biology. any threadlike structure or filament.

fibril British  
/ ˈfaɪbrɪl, fɪ-, faɪˈbrɪlə /

noun

  1. a small fibre or part of a fibre

  2. biology a threadlike structure, such as a root hair or a thread of muscle tissue

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
fibril Scientific  
/ fī′brəl,fĭb′rəl /

  1. Any of various threadlike fibers or filaments that are constituent parts of a cell or larger structure. Cellulose fibrils are the main component of cell walls in plants. Fibrils make up the contractile part of striated muscle fiber in the body.

Other Word Forms

  • fibrilar adjective
  • fibrillar adjective
  • fibrilliform adjective
  • fibrillose adjective

Etymology

Origin of fibril

1655–65; < New Latin fibrilla, equivalent to Latin fibr ( a ) fiber + -illa diminutive suffix

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Each fibril had to be carefully designed -- larger fibrils had weaker adhesion, while the smaller fibrils were hard to fabricate and prone to collapse and degradation.

From Science Daily • Apr. 29, 2024

Their image of these fibril assemblies made the cover of the ACS Nano and was put together by first author Weiyan Zhou, who color-coded the image based on where the Nile reds were pointing.

From Science Daily • Apr. 26, 2024

Their highly sustainable new method is based on a protein fibril sponge, which the scientists derive from whey, a food industry byproduct.

From Science Daily • Feb. 29, 2024

The backbone amide hydrogen bonds maintain the β-strands at a spacing of 4.8 Å in the direction of the fibril.

From Nature • Nov. 8, 2016

But a muscular fibril contracts only under the stimulus of a nervous impulse.

From The Whence and the Whither of Man A Brief History of His Origin and Development through Conformity to Environment; Being the Morse Lectures of 1895 by Tyler, John Mason

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.