spore
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A reproductive particle, usually a single cell, released by a fungus, alga, or plant that may germinate into another.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
spawrIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈspɔɹ
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
A reproductive particle, usually a single cell, released by a fungus, alga, or plant that may germinate into another.
A thick resistant particle produced by a bacterium or protist to survive in harsh or unfavorable conditions.
verb
To produce spores.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Varies by meaning
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A reproductive particle, usually a single cell, released by a fungus, alga, or plant that may germinate into another.
Used this way, spore is a reasonably familiar 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
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Technical/specialist writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use spore
- “A sexual spore is formed after the fusion of gametes.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Produce
Other combinations
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Organ containing or producing spores.
Cell from which a spore develops.
Organ containing or producing spores.
A spore of certain algae or fungi that lies dormant.
A gyromitra with a brown puffed up fertile part and a rosy pink fluted stalk and smooth round spores.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Form genus of imperfect fungi lacking pigment in the spores and conidiophores.
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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.