Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Not corresponding or similar in position, value, structure, or function; not homologous.
  • adjective Biology Relating to traits, such as organs or body parts, that do not correspond in structure or evolutionary origin.
  • adjective Derived from a different species.
  • adjective Genetics Relating to chromosomes that do not normally pair during mitosis or meiosis.
  • adjective Relating to cells or tissues that do not usually occur in a given part of the body.
  • adjective Relating to a vaccine or serum that confers immunity against a pathogen that is not identical to but is immunologically related to the pathogen used to create the vaccine or serum.
  • adjective Relating to an antigen and antibody that do not correspond to one another.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Containing or consisting of different elements or combinations; not homologous.
  • Specifically In medicine, consisting of a tissue not normally found in that place at that period of life: as, a heterologous tumor.
  • In researches in immunity, originating, as cells or serum, from an animal of a species different from the one undergoing immunization: thus, in immunizing a rabbit with the red blood-corpuscles of a goat, the latter are of heterologous origin.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Characterized by heterology; consisting of different elements, or of like elements in different proportions; different; -- opposed to homologous.
  • adjective (Physiol.) See under Stimulus.
  • adjective (Med.) a tumor differing in structure from the normal tissues of the body.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Having different relationships or different elements
  • adjective biology Of, or relating to different species
  • adjective heterologous blood donation

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective not corresponding in structure or evolutionary origin
  • adjective derived from organisms of a different but related species

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[hetero– + Greek logos, word, relation; see –logy + –ous.]

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Examples

  • In a narrower sense of the word heterologous new formations are alone destructive.

    The World's Greatest Books — Volume 15 — Science Various 1909

  • On the other hand, every kind of heterologous formation whenever it has not its seat in entirely superficial parts, has a certain degree of malignity, and even superficial affections, though entirely confined to the most external layers of epidermis, may gradually exercise a very detrimental effect.

    The World's Greatest Books — Volume 15 — Science Various 1909

  • It seems to me that the focus needs to be on the cessation of homologous and heterologous embryo production, and then decide what to do with the remaining frozen embryos knowing that the practice of creating life artificially outside of marriage and the conjugal act is no longer an issue.

    The difficult issue of embryonic adoption 2008

  • Genetic engineering: the capacity to manipulate genes in organisms to create new genes, or introduce genes into heterologous organisms e.g., a human gene in a bacterial cell.

    The Emperor of All Maladies Siddhartha Mukherjee 2010

  • The proposal that these embryos could be put at the disposal of infertile couples as a treatment for infertility is not ethically acceptable for the same reasons which make artificial heterologous procreation illicit as well as any form of surrogate motherhood; this practice would also lead to other problems of a medical, psychological and legal nature.

    The difficult issue of embryonic adoption 2008

  • Bacterial interference; protection of adults against nasal Staphylococcus aureus infection after colonization with a heterologous S. aureus strain.

    SUPERBUG MARYN MCKENNA 2010

  • Black SB, Cherry JD, Shinefield HR, et al. Apparent decreased risk of invasive bacterial disease after heterologous childhood immunization.

    Vaccine Safety FAQs 2008

  • Bacterial interference; protection of adults against nasal Staphylococcus aureus infection after colonization with a heterologous S. aureus strain.

    SUPERBUG MARYN MCKENNA 2010

  • Black SB, Cherry JD, Shinefield HR, et al. Apparent decreased risk of invasive bacterial disease after heterologous childhood immunization.

    Vaccine Safety FAQs 2008

  • Genetic engineering: the capacity to manipulate genes in organisms to create new genes, or introduce genes into heterologous organisms e.g., a human gene in a bacterial cell.

    The Emperor of All Maladies Siddhartha Mukherjee 2010

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