mutagen
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
- mutagenic adjective
- mutagenicity noun
Etymology
Origin of mutagen
First recorded in 1945–50; muta(tion) + -gen
Vocabulary lists containing mutagen
Cell Biology - Middle School
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Cell Biology - High School
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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.
“We may have to start thinking of higher temperatures such as those found in mammals as a mutagen for fungi,” he says.
From Science Magazine • Jun. 19, 2024
This finding expands the knowledge of formaldehyde, previously considered only as a DNA mutagen, and helps establishing a further link with cancer.
From Science Daily • Nov. 2, 2023
Chloroprene is a mutagen, meaning it causes cancer by attacking and mutating DNA.
From Salon • Oct. 24, 2022
This was later confirmed experimentally; Francis Crick and Sydney Brenner used the chemical mutagen proflavin to insert one, two, or three nucleotides into the gene of a virus.
From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022
When DNA is damaged by a mutagen, such as X-rays, genetic information is obviously threatened.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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.
