Library / English Dictionary

ARACHNOID

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Air-breathing arthropods characterized by simple eyes and four pairs of legs

Synonyms:

arachnid; arachnoid

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("arachnoid" is a kind of...):

arthropod (invertebrate having jointed limbs and a segmented body with an exoskeleton made of chitin)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "arachnoid"):

daddy longlegs; harvestman; Phalangium opilio (spiderlike arachnid with a small rounded body and very long thin legs)

scorpion (arachnid of warm dry regions having a long segmented tail ending in a venomous stinger)

false scorpion; pseudoscorpion (small nonvenomous arachnid resembling a tailless scorpion)

whip-scorpion; whip scorpion (nonvenomous arachnid that resembles a scorpion and that has a long thin tail without a stinger)

spider (predatory arachnid with eight legs, two poison fangs, two feelers, and usually two silk-spinning organs at the back end of the body; they spin silk to make cocoons for eggs or traps for prey)

acarine (mite or tick)

Holonyms ("arachnoid" is a member of...):

Arachnida; class Arachnida (a large class of arthropods including spiders and ticks and scorpions and daddy longlegs; have four pairs of walking legs and no wings)

Derivation:

arachnoid (relating to or resembling a member of the class Arachnida)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The middle of the 3 meninges

Synonyms:

arachnoid; arachnoid membrane

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Hypernyms ("arachnoid" is a kind of...):

meninges; meninx (a membrane (one of 3) that envelops the brain and spinal cord)

Holonyms ("arachnoid" is a part of...):

leptomeninges (the two innermost layers of the meninges; cerebrospinal fluid circulates between these innermost layers)

 II. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Relating to or resembling a member of the class Arachnida

Synonyms:

arachnidian; arachnoid; spiderlike; spiderly; spidery

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Domain category:

zoological science; zoology (the branch of biology that studies animals)

Pertainym:

class Arachnida (a large class of arthropods including spiders and ticks and scorpions and daddy longlegs; have four pairs of walking legs and no wings)

Derivation:

arachnoid (air-breathing arthropods characterized by simple eyes and four pairs of legs)

Credits

 Context examples: 

An intracranial or spinal cyst which contains fluid and is composed of arachnoid cells.

(Arachnoid Cyst, NCI Thesaurus)