cell
noun
\ ˈsel
\
\
Definition of cell
1
: a small religious house dependent on a monastery or convent
2a
: a one-room dwelling occupied by a solitary person (such as a hermit)
b
: a single room (as in a convent or prison) usually for one person
3
: a small compartment, cavity, or bounded space: such as
a
: one of the compartments of a honeycomb
b
: a membranous area bounded by veins in the wing of an insect
4
: a small usually microscopic mass of protoplasm bounded externally by a semipermeable membrane, usually including one or more nuclei and various other organelles with their products, capable alone or interacting with other cells of performing all the fundamental functions of life, and forming the smallest structural unit of living matter capable of functioning independently
5a(1)
: a receptacle containing electrodes and an electrolyte either for generating electricity by chemical action or for use in electrolysis
(2)
: fuel cell
b
: a single unit in a device for converting radiant energy into electrical energy or for varying the intensity of an electrical current in accordance with radiation (see radiation sense 1)
6
: a unit in a statistical array (see array entry 2 sense 5) (such as a spreadsheet) formed by the intersection of a column and a row
7
: a basic and usually small unit of an organization or movement
terrorist cells
8
: a portion of the atmosphere that behaves as a unit
a storm cell
9a
: any of the small sections of a geographic area of a cellular (see cellular entry 1 sense 3) telephone system
b
: cell phone
Illustration of cell
cell 4 (schematic): A plant, B animal; 1 cell wall, 2 middle lamella, 3 plasma membrane, 4 mitochondrion, 5 vacuole, 6 Golgi apparatus, 7 cytoplasm, 8 nuclear membrane, 9 nucleolus, 10 nucleus, 11 chromatin, 12 endoplasmic reticulum with associated ribosomes, 13 chloroplast, 14 centriole, 15 lysosome
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Examples of cell in a Sentence
The suspect was in the police station's holding cell overnight.
his mission was to locate and infiltrate the terrorist cell that was believed to be hiding in the city
Recent Examples on the Web
The mural features images of crying children inside window bars to create the image of cells along with likenesses of his wife, Patricia, and their son, Joaquin, who would have turned 19 on Sunday. — Washington Post, "Parkland father: Mural in El Paso a ‘tragic coincidence’," 5 Aug. 2019 The mural features images of crying children inside window bars to create the image of cells along with likenesses of his wife, Patricia, and their son, Joaquin. — Samuel Gaytan, USA TODAY, "Parents of Parkland shooting victim near El Paso during shooting: 'We have to open our hearts'," 5 Aug. 2019 The researchers discovered genetic adaptations involving the function of the mitochondria, the power generators of cells that are critical in governing the function of cardiac and other muscles, that may amplify the lizard’s aerobic capacity. — Reuters, The Mercury News, "Genetic adaptations point to Komodo dragons’ toughness," 29 July 2019 That immune response then leads to swelling and a faster turnover of cells. — Lambeth Hochwald, Health.com, "What Is Erythrodermic Psoriasis? Dermatologists Explain The Severe Skin Condition," 23 July 2019 Customs and Border Protection, which oversees ports of entry, maintains that ports simply lack the resources to process all asylum-seekers who want to enter at once; each port has a limited number of holding cells, for example. — Dara Lind, ProPublica, "Asylum-Seekers Who Followed Trump Rule Now Don’t Qualify Because of New Trump Rule," 22 July 2019 Recently, the most advanced data for animal studies has come from the Belgian company Imec and its Neuropixels technology, which has a device capable of gathering data from thousands of separate brains cells at once. — John Markoff, New York Times, "Elon Musk’s Company Takes Baby Steps to Wiring Brains to the Internet," 16 July 2019 McCool and his doctor credit his dramatic improvement to a new form of radiation therapy that works by targeting a specific hormone found on certain kinds of cancer cells. — Madeline Mcgee, Anchorage Daily News, "‘No time to wait’: After unprecedented cancer recovery, Wasilla man plans to make the most of the time he’s been given," 15 July 2019 The use of olfactory cells appears to be a relatively novel application for spinal cord injuries. — Michael Hiltzik, latimes.com, "A gruesome case study points to the hazards of stem cell tourism," 10 July 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'cell.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for cell
cell
noun
English Language Learners Definition of cell
: a room in a prison, jail, etc., where prisoners live or are kept
: a small room that one person (such as a monk or a nun) lives in
: any one of the very small parts that together form all living things
See the full definition for cell in the English Language Learners Dictionary
cell
noun
\ ˈsel
\
\
Kids Definition of cell
1
: a very small room (as in a prison or a monastery)
2
: the basic structural unit of living things that is made up of cytoplasm enclosed by a membrane and that typically includes a nucleus and other smaller parts (as mitochondria or chloroplasts) which perform specific functions necessary for life
3
: a small enclosed part or division (as in a honeycomb)
4
: a container with substances which can produce an electric current by chemical action
5
: a device that converts light (as sunlight) that falls on it into electrical energy that is used as a power source
6
: cell phone
cell
noun