Word Study
corpuscle
WORDNET DICTIONARY
Noun corpuscle has 2 senses
- corpuscle(n = noun.substance) atom, molecule, mote, particle, speck - (nontechnical usage) a tiny piece of anything; Array has particulars: grain, grinding, chylomicron, flyspeck, identification particle
- corpuscle(n = noun.body) blood cell, blood corpuscle - either of two types of cells (erythrocytes and leukocytes) and sometimes including platelets; Array is a part of blood
is a kind of material, stuff
is a kind of somatic cell, vegetative cell
has particulars: leucocyte, leukocyte, wbc, white blood cell, white blood corpuscle, white cell, white corpuscle, packed cells, erythrocyte, rbc, red blood cell
Derived form adjective corpuscular1
CIDE DICTIONARY
corpuscle, n. [L. corpusculum, dim. of corpus.].
- A minute particle; an atom; a molecule. [1913 Webster]
- A protoplasmic animal cell; esp., such as float free, like blood, lymph, and pus corpuscles; or such as are imbedded in an intercellular matrix, like connective tissue and cartilage corpuscles. See Blood. [1913 Webster]"Virchow showed that the corpuscles of bone are homologous with those of connective tissue." [1913 Webster]
- An electron. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
corpuscle, n. a minute body or cell in an organism, esp. (in pl.) the red or white cells in the blood of vertebrates.
Derivative
corpuscular adj.
Etymology
L corpusculum (as CORPUS)
ROGET THESAURUS
corpuscle
Smallness
N smallness, littleness, tenuity, paucity, fewness, meanness, insignificance (unimportance), mediocrity, moderation, small quantity, modicum, trace, hint, minimum, vanishing point, material point, atom, particle, molecule, corpuscle, point, speck, dot, mote, jot, iota, ace, minutiae, details, look, thought, idea, soupcon, dab, dight, whit, tittle, shade, shadow, spark, scintilla, gleam, touch, cast, grain, scruple, granule, globule, minim, sup, sip, sop, spice, drop, droplet, sprinkling, dash, morceau, screed, smack, tinge, tincture, inch, patch, scantling, tatter, cantlet, flitter, gobbet, mite, bit, morsel, crumb, seed, fritter, shive, snip, snippet, snick, snack, snatch, slip, scrag, chip, chipping, shiver, sliver, driblet, clipping, paring, shaving, hair, nutshell, thimbleful, spoonful, handful, capful, mouthful, fragment, fraction, drop in the ocean, animalcule, trifle, mere nothing, next to nothing, hardly anything, just enough to swear by, the shadow of a shade, finiteness, finite quantity, small, little, diminutive, minute, fine, inconsiderable, paltry, faint, slender, light, slight, scanty, scant, limited, meager, sparing, few, low, so-so, middling, tolerable, no great shakes, below par, under par, below the mark, at a low ebb, halfway, moderate, modest, tender, subtle, inappreciable, evanescent, infinitesimal, homeopathic, very small, atomic, corpuscular, microscopic, molecular, subatomic, mere, simple, sheer, stark, bare, near run, dull, petty, shallow, stolid, ungifted, unintelligent, to a small extent, on a small scale, a little bit, a wee bit, slightly, imperceptibly, miserably, wretchedly, insufficiently, imperfectly, faintly, passably, pretty well, well enough, partially, in part, in a certain degree, to a certain degree, to a certain extent, comparatively, some, rather in some degree, in some measure, something, somewhat, simply, only, purely, merely, at least, at the least, at most, at the most, ever so little, as little as may be, tant soit peu, in ever so small a degree, thus far, pro tanto, within bounds, in a manner, after a fashion, so to speak, almost, nearly, well-nigh, short of, not quite, all but, near upon, close upon, peu s'en faut, near the mark, within an ace of, within an inch of, on the brink of, scarcely, hardly, barely, only just, no more than, about, thereabouts, somewhere about, nearly, say, be the same, be little more or less, no ways, no way, no wise, not at all, not in the least, not a bit, not a bit of it, not a whit, not a jot, not a shadow, in no wise, in no respect, by no means, by no manner of means, on no account, at no hand, dare pondus idonea fumo, magno conatu magnas nugas, small sands the mountain, moments make the year.
For further exploring for "corpuscle" in Webster Dictionary Online