Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In grammar and rhetoric, same as enallage.

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

  • noun (Rhet.) A figure of speech by which one form of a noun, verb, or pronoun, and the like, is used for another, as in the sentence: “What is life to such as me?”

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

  • noun genetics The tendency of cross-breeding to produce an animal or plant with a greater hardiness than its parents; hybrid vigour

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

  • noun (genetics) the tendency of a crossbred organism to have qualities superior to those of either parent

Etymologies

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

[Late Greek heterōsis, alteration, alteration of Greek heteroiōsis, from heteroioun, to alter, from heteroios, different in kind, from heteros, other; see hetero–.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From hetero- + -osis

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Examples

Comments

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  • "hybrid vigor."

    July 22, 2008

  • Do I have a giant ego if the word heterosis brings my parents to mind?

    March 15, 2009

  • I dunno. Is your sister a lesbian?

    March 15, 2009