heterozygous

adjective

het·​ero·​zy·​gous ˌhe-tə-rō-ˈzī-gəs How to pronounce heterozygous (audio)
: having the two alleles at corresponding loci on homologous chromosomes different for one or more loci

Examples of heterozygous in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The thief got away with his founding albino male as well as females that were heterozygous for the trait. Rebecca Giggs, The New Yorker, 19 Feb. 2024 That’s because apples happen to be extremely heterozygous, meaning that just one tree can produce an incredible variation in offspring, leaving no two apple trees the same. Laura Kiniry, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 Dec. 2023 The 10 patients in this Phase 1 trial had heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia, a genetic disease that causes high levels of bad cholesterol and advanced heart disease. Meghana Keshavan, STAT, 13 Nov. 2023 Verve's research was limited to people with a genetic condition called heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia, in which cholesterol levels are sky-high from birth. Erika Edwards, NBC News, 12 Nov. 2023 When the raider ants became clonal and heterozygous, with just one copy of the supergene, the parasitic behavior disappeared — but the supergene persisted. Viviane Callier, Quanta Magazine, 8 May 2023 Inheritance was predicted at 2.8 × 10^6 parental heterozygous sites with 98.1% accuracy. Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 6 June 2012 Cutaneous pharmacologic cAMP induction induces melanization of the skin and improves recovery from ultraviolet injury in melanocortin 1 receptor-intact or heterozygous skin. Sarah Ladd, The Courier-Journal, 29 Aug. 2020 Using a dataset of the genomes of more than 400 deceased people, the researchers looked for instances of heterozygous genes: genes that are the result of a person inheriting a human gene from one parent and a Neanderthal gene from another. Ben Panko, Smithsonian, 24 Feb. 2017

Word History

First Known Use

1902, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of heterozygous was in 1902

Dictionary Entries Near heterozygous

Cite this Entry

“Heterozygous.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/heterozygous. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.

Kids Definition

heterozygous

adjective
het·​ero·​zy·​gous ˌhet-ə-rō-ˈzī-ˌgəs How to pronounce heterozygous (audio)
: having at least one gene pair that contains different genes
a pea plant heterozygous for seed color

Medical Definition

heterozygous

adjective
het·​ero·​zy·​gous -gəs How to pronounce heterozygous (audio)
: having the two genes at corresponding loci on homologous chromosomes different for one or more loci compare homozygous

More from Merriam-Webster on heterozygous

Love words? Need even more definitions?

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