metazoan

noun

meta·​zo·​an ˌme-tə-ˈzō-ən 

: any of a group (Metazoa) that comprises all animals having the body composed of cells differentiated into tissues and organs and usually a digestive cavity lined with specialized cells

metazoan adjective

Examples of metazoan in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But gene regulation in complex metazoans — animals like humans, with complex eukaryotic cells — doesn’t generally seem to work this way. —Philip Ball, Quanta Magazine, 14 Feb. 2024

This is just one of the myriad reasons biologists give for the long term lack of success of parthenogenetic metazoan lineages. —Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 22 July 2013

The same drama is played out among the cells that make up every metazoan since the Cambrian Explosion, when multicellular life began. —George Johnson, Discover Magazine, 7 Sep. 2013

Meanwhile, Knauth theorizes, oxygen-utilizing metazoans could have evolved on moist mats of oxygen producers kept hydrated by rains, lakes, streams and rivers during the late Precambrian. —Peter Byrne, Quanta Magazine, 24 Apr. 2014

Word History

Etymology

New Latin Metazoa, from meta- + -zoa

First Known Use

1879, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

metazoan

noun

meta·​zo·​an ˌmet-ə-ˈzō-ən 

: any of the great group of animals with a body composed of cells forming tissues and organs

metazoan adjective

Medical Definition

metazoan

noun

meta·​zo·​an -ˈzō-ən 

: any of the animals that comprise the taxon Metazoa, that have the body when adult composed of numerous cells differentiated into tissues and organs and usually a digestive cavity lined with specialized cells, and that usually include the coelenterates and all higher animals but sometimes also include the sponges and mesozoans

metazoan adjective