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Definition of "ovum" []

  • The female reproductive cell or gamete of animals; egg. (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.

Use "ovum" in a sentence
  • "The first stage in the development of any animal is the tiny speck of plasm, hardly visible to the naked eye, which we call the ovum, or egg-cell."
  • "You and Marshall have a legitimate dispute as to whether an unimplanted but fertilized ovum is a human being deserving equal protection of law."
  • "Basically, this means that ethical concerns about "destroying an embryo" for raw stem cell materials are obviated, since a parthenogenic ovum is not viable -- and furthermore, the elimination of an unfertilized egg every 28 days or so is noncontroversial, so presumbaly "rescuing" eggs before they're flushed will be similarily morally unambiguous."