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''metabolism'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260708194133-00-⌔

metabolism - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

metabolism (countable and uncountable, plural metabolisms)

  • (physiology) The chemical processes that occur within a living organism in order to maintain life.
    • ✤ Hyponyms: anabolism, catabolism
    • ✤ The metabolisms of aerobic bacteria require oxygen
  • (physiology, by extension) The rate at which these processes occur for a given organism
    • ✤ Small animals have a much higher metabolism than large animals because they lose more body heat
  • (figurative, by extension) The processes that maintain any dynamic system.
    • ✤ The results of this generalized speedup of the corporate metabolism are multiple: shorter product life cycles, more leasing and renting, more frequent buying and selling, more ephemeral consumption patterns, […]1

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μεταβολή (metabolḗ, “change”) +‎ -ism, from μεταβάλλω (metabállō, “to change, to alter”) +‎ -η (-ē, action noun suffix).

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /mɪˈtab.ə.lɪz.əm/, [mɪˈtab.ə.lɪz.m̩]
    • Audio (Southern England): 🔊
  • (General American) IPA: /məˈtæb.əˌlɪz.əm/, [məˈtæb.əˌlɪz.m̩]
  • (Australian) IPA: /mɪˈtæb.ə.lɪz.əm/, [mɪˈtæb.ə.lɪz.m̩]

Printed 2026-07-08.

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Footnotes

  1. 1980, Alvin Toffler, The Third Wave, page 230: ↩

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