Definitions for commensal

• Definition
• Anagrams (506)

commensal com·men·sal

Spelling: [kuh-men-suh l]

IPA: /kəˈmɛn səl/

Commensal is a 9 letter English word. It's valid Words with friends word worth 20 points.

You can make 506 anagrams from letters in commensal (acelmmnos).

Definitions for commensal

noun

1. a companion at table.
2. Ecology. a commensal organism.

adjective

1. eating together at the same table.
2. Ecology. (of an animal, plant, fungus, etc.) living with, on, or in another, without injury to either.
3. Sociology. (of a person or group) not competing while residing in or occupying the same area as another individual or group having independent or different values or customs.

Origin of commensal

First recorded in 1350-1400; Middle English word from Medieval Latin word commēnsālis. See com-, mensal²

Examples for commensal

The subcaste or commensal group was the direct evolutionary product of the pre-existing tribe.

They are supposed to be commensal in habit and live in the deeper water offshore.

Pinnixa cylindrica, a related species, lives in the tubes of large annelid worms as a commensal.

My specimen was not commensal, but was hidden among the mollusc tubes.

The shells of hermit-crabs serve frequently as the home of other animals which live with them a commensal life.

Chance must play a very considerable part in first bringing symbiotic or commensal partners together.

From them Schaudinn decided that the poisonous action of the mosquito bite is caused by an enzyme from a commensal fungus.

Plants or other materials used in their construction and any commensal arthropods present were saved and later identified.