syncytial

Adjective

syncytial (comparative more syncytial, superlative most syncytial)

1. Of or pertaining to a syncytium.
   • The epithelium, however, in many regions has a more syncytial appearance due to loss of cell boundaries.1906, Robert T. Frank, “Chorionepitheliomatous Proliferation in Teratomata”, in George H. Simmons, editor, Journal of the American Medical Association, Volume 46, American Medical Association, page...
   • In more syncytial areas, tumour cells have plump cell bodies and rounded nuclei, which may show deep invaginations.1986, Timothy H. Moss, Tumours of the Nervous System, Springer, page 85
2. Characterized by interdependence and a sense of mutual identity.
   • The natural death of a single member is perceived as a collective catastrophe; a maiming would is inflected on the body of all members of the group who are not willing to be separated from him, but fear being dragged to death with him. The syncytial group both denies and works through death in...2012, Joan Offerman-Zuckerberg, Politics and Psychology: Contemporary Psychodynamic Perspectives
   • It was a process that had begun in ancient times, with the institution of the sacred king/double of the people in a social body which was much more syncytial (and therefore more exposed to self-destruction) than the one represented by the consciousness of the Tudor age.2018, Domenico A. Nesci, Revisiting Jonestown, Rowman & Littlefield (Lexington Books), page 57