commensal
adjective
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Commensal types, be they human or beast, often "break bread" together. When they do, they are reflecting the etymology of commensal, which derives from the Latin prefix com-, meaning "with, together," jointly and the Latin adjective mensalis, meaning "of the table." In its earliest English uses, "commensal" referred to people who ate together, but around 1870, biologists started using it for organisms that have no use for a four-piece table setting. Since then, the scientific sense has almost completely displaced the dining one.
Examples of commensal in a Sentence
Carlyn Kranking, Smithsonian Magazine, 25 Jan. 2024
Science defines the rat’s relationship to humans as commensal: an association between two species in which one benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed.
—WIRED, 7 Oct. 2023
In fact, it’s become clear that many of these commensal bacteria use the glycans studding mucin molecules as a primary source of energy.
—Diana Kwon, Discover Magazine, 9 July 2019
In commensal domestication, however, humans unintentionally create an environment that attracts the animal.
—Gemma Tarlach, Discover Magazine, 8 Nov. 2016
These samples serve as powerful investigative tools in our pursuit to understand how certain commensal microbes can cause or serve as diagnostic readouts.
—Anthony Martin, Discover Magazine, 26 Apr. 2016
Danska’s research suggests that the composition of commensal microbes diverges in male and female mice around puberty, so something seems to happen to the bacteria around that time.
—Melinda Wenner Moyer, Scientific American, 1 Sep. 2021
Two species, both carnivores to a greater or lesser extent, with different nutritional needs, could have a commensal relationship.
—James Gorman, New York Times, 7 Jan. 2021
Instead of buying time on the array, Breakthrough Listen is tapping into the data stream while the telescope observes its regular targets—a procedure known as commensal observing.
—Daniel Clery, Science | AAAS, 10 Sep. 2020
Cite this Entry
“Commensal.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/commensal. Accessed 16 Mar. 2025.
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commensal
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adjective
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