cell theory

noun

: a theory in biology that includes one or both of the statements that the cell is the fundamental structural and functional unit of living matter and that the organism is composed of autonomous cells with its properties being the sum of those of its cells

Examples of cell theory in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Mukherjee recounts the beginnings of cell theory among 19th-century European scientists and the growing consensus that the cell is the fundamental unit of life in plants and animals. —Siri Hustvedt, Washington Post, 24 Oct. 2022

Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection and the cell theory, the observation that organismic life consists of one or more cells, the atoms of biology. —Christof Koch, Scientific American, 6 Oct. 2021

Long ago, cell theory was a new and revolutionary way to look more closely at life, and scientists moved animals to one group and plants to another based on the presence of the cellulose cell wall. —Caroline Delbert, Popular Mechanics, 15 Nov. 2019

Interested in research more than treatment, Cajal turned to histology, or cell theory, a discipline that had flowered since the introduction of powerful microscopes in the 1830s. —Cate McQuaid, BostonGlobe.com, 6 June 2018

Word History

First Known Use

1843, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

cell theory

noun

: a general statement in biology that all living things consist of cells each of which has come from a previously existing cell

Medical Definition

cell theory

noun

: a theory in biology that includes one or both of the statements that the cell is the fundamental structural and functional unit of living matter and that the organism is composed of autonomous cells with its properties being the sum of those of its cells