Definitions

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

  • adjective Tending to go backward or recede.
  • adjective Genetics Of, relating to, or designating an allele that does not produce a characteristic effect when present with a dominant allele.
  • adjective Of or relating to a trait that is expressed only when the determining allele is present in the homozygous condition.
  • noun A recessive allele or trait.
  • noun An organism having a recessive trait.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Tending to recede; receding; going back: used especially of accent regarded as transferred or moved backward from the end toward the beginning of a word.
  • In biology, opposed to dominant, 2. See recessive, n.
  • noun In biology, an organism that manifests and transmits to descendants the character which is antagonistic to a dominant, or a character which is antagonistic to a dominant character. See dominant, 2.

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

  • adjective Going back; receding.
  • adjective (Genetics) Not appearing in the phenotype unless both alleles of the organism have the same trait; -- of genetic characteristics, or of the genes coding for such characteristics, in diploid organisms. Opposite of dominant.
  • noun (Genetics) A genetic trait determined by a recessive{2} allele; a trait not appearing in the phenotype unless both chromosomes of the organism have the same allele; also, an allele which is recessive{2}.

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

  • adjective Going back; receding.
  • adjective genetics Able to be covered up by a dominant trait.

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

  • adjective (of genes) producing its characteristic phenotype only when its allele is identical
  • adjective of or pertaining to a recession
  • noun an allele that produces its characteristic phenotype only when its paired allele is identical

Etymologies

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Examples

  • The term recessive only applies to the peculiar state into which the latent character has come in the hybrid by its pairing with the antagonistic active unit.

    Species and Varieties, Their Origin by Mutation Hugo de Vries 1891

  • (nonadditive) gene actions as well as the closely associated term recessive gene action.

    PLoS ONE Alerts: New Articles Arne B. Gjuvsland et al. 2010

  • Each involves what Ms. Siegel aptly calls "recessive music"—the aural mix accompanying the choreography remains in the background, bearing next to no connection to the dance's action.

    'Movement-Based' Choreography Robert Greskovic 2011

  • Mr. Yacub, to upset the law of nature, conceived the idea of employing what we today know as the recessive genes structure, to separate from each other the two germs, black and brown, and then grafting the brown germ to progressively lighter, weaker stages.

    The Autobiography of Malcolm X X, Malcolm, 1925-1965 1964

  • Ph. D., in collaboration with researchers in Portland, Oregon, the United Kingdom, and Japan have for the first time used stem cells from bone marrow to repair the skin of patients with a fatal skin disease called recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, or RDEB.

    EurekAlert! - Breaking News 2010

  • Ph. D., in collaboration with researchers in Portland, Oregon, the United Kingdom, and Japan have for the first time used stem cells from bone marrow to repair the skin of patients with a fatal skin disease called recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, or RDEB.

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2010

  • Researchers led by University of Minnesota doctors John Wagner and Jakub Tolar used bone marrow stem cells to treat children with a rare genetic skin disorder called recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB).

    The Sydney Morning Herald News Headlines 2010

  • Researchers led by University of Minnesota doctors John Wagner and Jakub Tolar used bone marrow stem cells to treat children with a rare genetic skin disorder called recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB).

    Latest News - Yahoo!7 News 2010

  • Researchers led by University of Minnesota doctors John Wagner and Jakub Tolar used bone marrow stem cells to treat children with a rare genetic skin disorder called recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB).

    Raw Story 2010

  • Ph. D., in collaboration with researchers in Portland, Oregon, the United Kingdom, and Japan have for the first time used stem cells from bone marrow to repair the skin of patients with a fatal skin disease called recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, or RDEB.

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2010

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