Children's, Intermediate and Advanced Online English Dictionary & Thesaurus

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Children's Dictionary


Homophone Note, Word History, Word Explorer
part of speech: noun
definition 1: a tiny unit of plant or animal life, having a nucleus and surrounded by a very thin membrane.
Living things are made of cells.
definition 2: a very small room for a prisoner, nun, or monk.
definition 3: any small, hollow space within a larger group of hollow spaces.
Bees build a honeycomb with many cells.
definition 4: a device that makes electricity by chemical means.
A car battery has several cells.
similar words:
Homophone Note
The words cell and sell sound alike but have different meanings.
Word History
Cell comes from celare, a Latin word that means "to hide." By the 1300s, "cell" meant "small monastery" or "small room." In the late 1300s, it was used for the compartments that the brain was thought to be separated into. The current use of the word "cell" in biology first occurred in 1845.
Word Explorer
grows in cell
includes the study of cells
person who studies cells
some examples of cells
some means for categorizing cells
some parts of cells
some things composed of cells
some things composed of only one cell
some things found in cells
some things that produce cells
some tools for studying cells