Library / English Dictionary

SPICULE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Small pointed structure serving as a skeletal element in various marine and freshwater invertebrates e.g. sponges and corals

Synonyms:

spicule; spiculum

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

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

appendage; outgrowth; process (a natural prolongation or projection from a part of an organism either animal or plant)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Now, for the first time, a computer simulation — so detailed it took a full year to run — shows how spicules form, helping scientists understand how spicules can break free of the sun’s surface and surge upward so quickly.

(Scientists Uncover Origins of the Sun’s Swirling Spicules, NASA)