Definition of "chordate" [chordate]

• Any of numerous animals belonging to the phylum Chordata, having at some stage of development a dorsal nerve cord, a notochord, and gill slits and including all vertebrates and certain marine animals, such as the lancelets. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "In contrast, a region deep in the brain associated with reward processing, attention and motor movements - the chordate nucleus - was enlarged in subjects who were addicted to the drug."
• "A data dump now about problems with metazoan (or chordate or mammalian) phylogeny would be getting ahead of the discussion."
• "It's just one of the many peculiarities of being a chordate on Sol's 3rd rock."