membrane
noun
Simple meaning
A microscopic double layer of lipids and proteins forming the boundary of cells or organelles.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
mehmbraynSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈmɛmbɹeɪn
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
biology
A microscopic double layer of lipids and proteins forming the boundary of cells or organelles.
A mechanical, thin, flat flexible part that can deform or vibrate when excited by an external force.
A flexible or semiflexible covering or waterproofing whose primary function is to exclude water.
A piece of parchment forming part of a roll.
anatomyzootomy
A flexible enclosing or separating tissue forming a plane or film and separating two environments.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Varies by meaning
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A microscopic double layer of lipids and proteins forming the boundary of cells or organelles.
Used this way, membrane is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a scientific use: it names something precisely within a field of study, so it appears in research and teaching more than in conversation.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Science
- Academic writing
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use membrane
- “A thin membrane separates the egg yolk from the egg white.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Any bone that develops within membranous tissue without previous cartilage formation.
A membrane in the cochlea that supports the organ of Corti.
A thin membrane (a double layer of lipids) enclosing the cytoplasm of a cell.
The very vascular fetal membrane composed of the fused chorion and adjacent wall of the allantois.
The inner membrane of embryos in higher vertebrates (especially when covering the head at birth).
The membrane that forms around a fertilized ovum and prevents penetration by additional spermatozoon.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
- lipidnoun
- extracellularadjective
- intracellularadjective
- actinnoun
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.