Definitions

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

  • noun The scientific study of parasitism.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The natural history of parasites; the science or study of parasitism.

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

  • noun A study of parasites.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word parasitology.

Examples

  • In the late 1800s, scientists sometimes referred to parasitology as medical zoology.

    Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009

  • In the late 1800s, scientists sometimes referred to parasitology as medical zoology.

    Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009

  • All these different disciplines became known as parasitology—more of a loose federation than an actual science.

    Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009

  • In the late 1800s, scientists sometimes referred to parasitology as medical zoology.

    Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009

  • All these different disciplines became known as parasitology—more of a loose federation than an actual science.

    Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009

  • All these different disciplines became known as parasitology—more of a loose federation than an actual science.

    Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009

  • He has taught at the college ever since, only taking some time off to pursue his doctorate with a particular interest in parasitology, which is the study of parasites, their hosts and the relationship between the two.

    GJSentinel.com 2010

  • He got his chance at a remote Methodist mission hospital in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where he learned blood chemistry, parasitology, and basic hematology in a rudimentary lab.

    The Wrong Man 2010

  • He got his chance at a remote Methodist mission hospital in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where he learned blood chemistry, parasitology, and basic hematology in a rudimentary lab.

    The Wrong Man 2010

  • De-worming dogs monthly—instead of the previously recommended annually or quarterly—can greatly lower the infection risk, says Dr. Kevin R. Kazacos, a professor of veterinary parasitology at Purdue University.

    This Business Grows Every Time Fido Does His Jim Sterba 2011

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Imagine taking a college class or becoming an undergraduate major in predatorology or primary producerology. Most of us would think this rather ludicrous because we generally do not consider the means by which organisms garner resources as sufficiently fundamental to define a subdiscipline of biology. But somehow parasites have been considered odd enough in their mode of foraging to justify singling them out for considerable special attention. Parasitology is one of the oldest distinct branches of biology, having evolved as an unusually interdisciplinary combination of autecology, physiology, developmental biology, functional morphology, systematics, ethology, and immunology. But as modern biology has restructured around levels of organization (cellular and molecular, organismal, and community and ecosystem), the appropriate place for parasitology has become unclear. Although we have no rigorous data to test our impression, it appears to us that college classes and majors in parasitology have waned dramatically in recent decades. Paradoxically, though, the demise of parasitology has been accompanied by increasing attention to the biology of parasites.

    ("Parasitology Is Dead. Long Live Parasitology!" by James H. Shaw. Conservation Biology, Volume 24, No. 6, 1690–1693)

    November 26, 2010

  • Tristan failed this in "All Creatures Great And Small."

    August 29, 2013