: a small phylum of aquatic animals that reproduce by budding, that usually form branching, flat, or mosslike colonies permanently attached on stones or seaweeds and enclosed by an external cuticle soft and gelatinous or rigid and chitinous or calcareous, and that consist of complex zooids each having an alimentary canal with distinct mouth and anus surrounded by a true coelom and associated with a protrusible lophophore see avicularium, vibraculum; bugula , entoprocta, gymnolaemata, phylactolaemata
2
in some classifications: a class or other division of Molluscoidea comprising the Bryozoa and the Entoprocta
Word History
Etymology
New Latin, from bry- + -zoa
The Ultimate Dictionary Awaits
Expand your vocabulary and dive deeper into language with Merriam-Webster Unabridged.
Expanded definitions
Detailed etymologies
Advanced search tools
All ad-free
Discover what makes Merriam-Webster Unabridged the essential choice
for true word lovers.
Copy Citation
Share