prokaryote
noun
pro·kary·ote
(ˌ)prō-ˈker-ē-ˌōt 
(ˌ)prō-ˈka-rē-ˌōt
variants
or less commonly procaryote
Examples of prokaryote in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The most obvious one is that only around 40 percent of prokaryotes on Earth can move.
—
Ars Technica, 12 Feb. 2025
Evo is trained only on genomes from the simplest organisms, prokaryotes.
—Ingrid Wickelgren, Quanta Magazine, 5 Feb. 2025
If prokaryotes are a loose pile of papers on the floor, eukaryotes are a sophisticated filing system that binds pages into packets and labels them.
—Quanta Magazine, 28 Oct. 2024
Why regulate genes in this complicated manner, rather than relying on the kind of strong and specific interactions between regulatory proteins and DNA sites that dominate in prokaryotes?
—Philip Ball, Quanta Magazine, 14 Feb. 2024
More complex organisms like ourselves descend from eukaryotes, which have a nuclear membrane around their DNA (as opposed to prokaryotes, which don’t).
—Elizabeth Rayne, Ars Technica, 2 Feb. 2024
In fact, as far back as the mid-1800s researchers had been lighting on evidence that bacteria were able to manufacture substances that inhibited or even killed other prokaryotes.
—Mark Caldwell, Discover Magazine, 11 Nov. 2019
The team is building on a 2021 discovery of a class of RNA-programmable systems in prokaryotes called OMEGAs.
—Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 29 June 2023
Faced with the same supply problem, Epulopiscium will remain a prokaryote.
—Ed Yong, Discover Magazine, 20 Oct. 2010
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Ars Technica, 12 Feb. 2025
Evo is trained only on genomes from the simplest organisms, prokaryotes.
—Ingrid Wickelgren, Quanta Magazine, 5 Feb. 2025
If prokaryotes are a loose pile of papers on the floor, eukaryotes are a sophisticated filing system that binds pages into packets and labels them.
—Quanta Magazine, 28 Oct. 2024
Why regulate genes in this complicated manner, rather than relying on the kind of strong and specific interactions between regulatory proteins and DNA sites that dominate in prokaryotes?
—Philip Ball, Quanta Magazine, 14 Feb. 2024
More complex organisms like ourselves descend from eukaryotes, which have a nuclear membrane around their DNA (as opposed to prokaryotes, which don’t).
—Elizabeth Rayne, Ars Technica, 2 Feb. 2024
In fact, as far back as the mid-1800s researchers had been lighting on evidence that bacteria were able to manufacture substances that inhibited or even killed other prokaryotes.
—Mark Caldwell, Discover Magazine, 11 Nov. 2019
The team is building on a 2021 discovery of a class of RNA-programmable systems in prokaryotes called OMEGAs.
—Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 29 June 2023
Faced with the same supply problem, Epulopiscium will remain a prokaryote.
—Ed Yong, Discover Magazine, 20 Oct. 2010
Cite this Entry
“Prokaryote.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prokaryote. Accessed 6 Mar. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
prokaryote
noun
pro·kary·ote
prō-ˈkar-ē-ˌōt
: an organism (as a bacterium) that is typically single-celled and does not have a nucleus or most of the cell structures (as mitochondria) characteristic of eukaryotes
Medical Definition
prokaryote
noun
pro·kary·ote
variants
also procaryote
: any of the typically unicellular microorganisms that lack a distinct nucleus and membrane-bound organelles and that are classified as a kingdom (Prokaryotae synonym Monera) or into two domains (Bacteria and Archaea) compare eukaryote
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