cooperativity

noun

co·​op·​er·​a·​tiv·​i·​ty kō-ˌä-p(ə-)rə-ˈti-və-tē How to pronounce cooperativity (audio)
plural cooperativities
: the quality or state of being cooperative
To safeguard the scientific enterprise, cooperativity and humility need to instead become central virtues of science.Natalie Koffler
"It wasn't such a huge amount to achieve this cooperativity between these two different species" because wolves and humans shared similar social structures, [John] Allman argued.Minerva Canto
specifically, biochemistry : the molecular interaction between a ligand and a macromolecule (such as a protein) having two or more binding sites in which binding of a ligand to one site positively or negatively influences subsequent ligand binding at other sites by either increasing or decreasing the affinity of other binding sites for a ligand
Cooperativity refers to the characteristic that the remaining hemoglobin chains will have greater affinity for O2 after one of the subunits has already bound O2. Shannon Haymond et al.
… a reduction in receptor affinity for its ligand with increasing saturation of binding sites (so-called 'negative cooperativity') has been described for a number of hormones … Martin Raff

Word History

First Known Use

1965, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of cooperativity was in 1965

Dictionary Entries Near cooperativity

Cite this Entry

“Cooperativity.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cooperativity. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!