rna
noun
Simple meaning
A derivative of DNA having ribose in place of deoxyribose, and uracil in place of thymine.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
rnuhIPA pronunciation (US)
ɹnə
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
biochemistry
A derivative of DNA having ribose in place of deoxyribose, and uracil in place of thymine; its primary function is in the transcription of genetic material and subsequent synthesis of protein.
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: (biochemistry) A derivative of DNA having ribose in place of deoxyribose, and uracil in place of thymine; its primary function is in the transcription of genetic material and subsequent synthesis of protein.
Used this way, rna is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in technical or specialist writing contexts.
- 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
- 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.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
- intronnoun
- mrnanoun
- polymerasenoun
- nucleotidenoun
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: derivative of DNA having ribose in place of deoxyribose
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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.