Word.ws English Dictionary

commensals

commensals is the plural of commensal.

Meaning of commensal

Noun

commensal (plural commensals)

  1. An organism partaking in a commensal relationship.
    • The tree did indeed grow right out of the algae, as I had seen from the lifeboat. There was not the least trace of soil. Either there was soil deeper down, or this species of tree was a remarkable instance of a commensal or a parasite.2001, Yann Martel, Life of Pi, Canongate, published 2003, →ISBN, page 260
  2. One who eats at the same table.
    • Colville ordered it, and was sorry when the last of his commensals, slightly bowing him a good-night, left him alone to it.1886, William Dean Howells, Indian Summer

See all 4 meanings of commensal

Questions about commensals

What is commensals the plural of?
Commensals is the plural of commensal.

Words near commensals in the dictionary

  1. commensalistic
  2. commensalists
  3. commensalities
  4. commensality
  5. commensally
  6. commensals
  7. commensurabilities
  8. commensurability
  9. commensurable
  10. commensurableness
  11. commensurably

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: commensals (page history and authors); commensal (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.

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