apoptosis

/ˌapɒpˈtəʊsɪs//ˌæ.pəˈtoʊ.sɪs/

apoptosis noun: a process of programmed cell death by which cells undergo an ordered sequence of events which leads to death of the cell, as occurs during growth and development of the organism, as a part of normal cell aging, or as a response to cellular injury.

Image: Emma Farmer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

apoptosis (countable and uncountable, plural apoptoses)

A process of programmed cell death by which cells undergo an ordered sequence of events which leads to death of the cell, as occurs during growth and development of the organism, as a part of normal cell aging, or as a response to cellular injury.
- The term apoptosis is proposed for a hitherto little recognized mechanism of controlled cell deletion, which appears to play a complementary but opposite role to mitosis in the regulation of animal cell populations.1972, J. F. R. Kerr, A. H. Wyllie, A. R. Currie, “Apoptosis: A Basic Biological Phenomenon with Wide-ranging Implications in Tissue Kinetics”, in British journal of cancer, volume 26, →DOI
- Indeed, so important is apoptosis that it is gradually becoming clear that almost all therapeutic cancer treatment works only because it induces apoptosis by alerting p53 and its colleagues.1999, Matt Ridley, Genome, Harper Perennial, published 2004, page 238

apoptosis meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Kannada

apoptosis in Hindi

death of cells: एपोप्टोसिस epopṭosis

apoptosis in Tamil

உயிரணு இறப்பு, உயிரணு தன்மடிவு

apoptosis in Bengali

death of cells: অ্যাপোপটোসিস êpōpṭōśiś

apoptosis in Kannada

death of cells: ಅಪೊಪ್ಟೋಸಿಸ್ apopṭōsis

More languagesFewer languages

apoptosis in Arabic: اسْتِماتَة astimata
apoptosis in Thai: อะพอพโทซิส à pôp-toh sít

Examples of apoptosis in a sentence

These results suggest that excess iodine induces thyroid involution in goitrogen-treated rats at least partially by apoptosis.
An mTOR inhibitor could not chemosensitize apoptosis incompetent esophageal cancer cells, whereas lithium could.
Correspondingly, increased endotoxin in portal system worsens tight junction dysfunction via decreasing intestinal occludin and claudin-1 expressions and increasing enterocytic apoptosis.

All 16 example sentences with apoptosis

Forms of apoptosis

plural	apoptoses

Origin of apoptosis

From Ancient Greek ἀπόπτωσις (apóptōsis, “a falling off”), from ἀπό (apó, “away from”) + πτῶσις (ptôsis, “falling”).

Words formed from apoptosis

Words that rhyme with apoptosis

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about apoptosis

What does apoptosis mean?: Apoptosis means a process of programmed cell death by which cells undergo an ordered sequence of events which leads to death of the cell, as occurs during growth and development of the organism, as a part of normal cell aging, or as a response to cellular injury.
What is apoptosis in Hindi?: Apoptosis in Hindi is एपोप्टोसिस (epopṭosis). See Apoptosis meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is apoptosis?: Apoptosis is a noun.
How do you pronounce apoptosis?: Apoptosis is pronounced /ˌapɒpˈtəʊsɪs/ (UK).
What is the plural of apoptosis?: The plural of apoptosis is apoptoses.

Words near apoptosis in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: apoptosis (page history and authors); apoptosis (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-apoptosis-pronounced-p.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-NaomiAmethyst-apoptosis.wav.

Cite this entry: “apoptosis.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/apoptosis. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.