Word.ws English Dictionary

CRISPR

/ˈkrɪspər/

CRISPR noun: segments of bacteria and archaea DNA containing short repetitions of base sequences.

Noun (1)

CRISPR (countable and uncountable, plural CRISPRs)

  1. Segments of bacteria and archaea DNA containing short repetitions of base sequences.
    • Crispr is a guide molecule made of RNA, that allows a specific site of interest on the DNA double helix to be targeted.2018 October 14, Sarah Marsh, “Essays reveal Stephen Hawking predicted race of 'superhumans'”, in The Guardian
    Synonyms:
    SRSR
  2. The CRISPR/Cas9 system, which functions to provide immunity to bacteria and archaea by finding a section of DNA and replacing it with an alternative.
    • For the first time, doctors in the U.S. have used the powerful gene-editing technique CRISPR to try to treat a patient with a genetic disorder.2019 July 29, Rob Stein, “In A 1st, Doctors In U.S. Use CRISPR Tool To Treat Patient With Genetic Disorder”, in npr
  3. Any technique or process or system for editing genomes by laboratory use of the CRISPR/Cas9 system.

Verb

CRISPR (third-person singular simple present CRISPRs, present participle CRISPRing, simple past and past participle CRISPRed)

  1. (informal) To edit genomes by laboratory use of the CRISPR/Cas9 system.
    • In this planned trial, doctors will remove cancer patients' T cells, “CRISPR” them, and then reinfuse them in the hope that they will recognize and attack the patients' cancers.2017, Robin L. Smith, Max Gomez, Cells Are the New Cure
    • Having CRISPRed the cells we next wanted to identify the types of modification that have been generated.2017, Alexandra Franz, Erich Brunner, Konrad Baslter, “Generation of genome-modified Drosophila cell lines using SwAP”, in Fly, volume 11, number 4

Noun (2) capitalized: Crispr

Crispr (countable and uncountable, plural Crisprs)

  1. Alternative letter-case form of CRISPR.

Synonyms of CRISPR

  • SRSR

Forms of CRISPR

Noun
pluralCRISPRs
alternative formCrispr
pluralCrisprs
Verb
third-person singular presentCRISPRs
present participleCRISPRing
past participleCRISPRed
pastCRISPRed

Origin of CRISPR

Acronym of clustered, regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats.

Words that rhyme with CRISPR

Questions about CRISPR

What does CRISPR mean?
CRISPR means segments of bacteria and archaea DNA containing short repetitions of base sequences.
What part of speech is CRISPR?
CRISPR can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce CRISPR?
CRISPR is pronounced /ˈkrɪspər/.
What is the plural of CRISPR?
The plural of CRISPR is CRISPRs.

Words near CRISPR in the dictionary

  1. crispless
  2. crisplike
  3. crisply
  4. crispness
  5. crispnesses
  6. CRISPR
  7. CRISPRed
  8. CRISPRing
  9. CRISPRs
  10. crisps
  11. crispt

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: CRISPR (page history and authors); Crispr (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:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-CRISPR.ogg.

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