slime mold

noun

: any of a group (such as Myxomycetes) of organisms formerly held to be lower fungi but now often considered protists that exist vegetatively in usually moist habitats as mobile plasmodia and reproduce by spores

Examples of slime mold in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web From a slime mold measuring just one millimeter tall to a moth resting on a window, the images honored in the Close-Up Photographer of the Year contest draw attention to nature’s little details and spotlight tiny animals that most people would probably walk right past. Carlyn Kranking, Smithsonian Magazine, 25 Jan. 2024 The physical science building is nestled in a forest, where slime molds bloom and trees tilt their leaves in obedience to their own circadian clocks. Quanta Magazine, 10 Oct. 2023 The mass on the ground in the photo looks like dog vomit slime mold that is starting to dry up. Tim Johnson, Chicago Tribune, 3 Sep. 2023 But in the 1930s seagrass meadows from North Carolina to Canada were practically eradicated, likely the result of a plague of slime mold disease combined with a devastating 1933 hurricane. Shane Gross; Text By Katherine Harmon Courage, Smithsonian Magazine, 18 Nov. 2020 The spores are then dispersed to create new dog slime mold patches. Tim Johnson, Chicago Tribune, 3 Sep. 2023 Along with the usual culprits like roaches and dead flies, county health inspectors last month cited eateries for infractions that included slime mold and bio-slime. Howard Koplowitz | Hkoplowitz@al.com, al, 1 Sep. 2023 The yellow slime mold Physarum polycephalum grows as a single cell that is big enough to be seen with the naked eye. Andrew Moseman, Discover Magazine, 22 Jan. 2010 The Cornell entomologists who christened the slime mold beetles named other new species after after their wives, Pocahontas, Darth Vader, and the locations where the creatures were first seen. Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 12 Sep. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'slime mold.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1880, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of slime mold was in 1880

Dictionary Entries Near slime mold

Cite this Entry

“Slime mold.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slime%20mold. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

slime mold

noun
: either of two groups of organisms that reproduce by spores and form slimy masses composed of amoeboid cells that fuse to form a giant cell with many nuclei or that gather tightly together without fusing

Medical Definition

slime mold

noun
: any organism of the group Myxomycetes

called also myxomycete

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