glomerulus

UK:*UK and possibly other pronunciationsUK and possibly other pronunciations/ɡlɒˈmɛrʊləs/US:USA pronunciation: respellingUSA pronunciation: respelling(glō mer′yə ləs, glə-)

Inflections of 'glomerulus' (n): npl: glomeruli

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025
glo•mer•u•lus  (glō mer′yə ləs, glə-),USA pronunciation n., pl. -li (-lī′).USA pronunciation [Anat.]
  1. Anatomya compact cluster of capillaries.
  2. AnatomyAlso called Malpighian tuft. a tuft of convoluted capillaries in the nephron of a kidney, functioning to remove certain substances from the blood before it flows into the convoluted tubule. Cf. Bowman's capsule, Malpighian corpuscle.
  • Neo-Latin, equivalent. to Latin glomer- (stem of glomus) ball-shaped mass + -ulus -ule
  • 1855–60
glo•mer′u•lar, adj. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
glomerulus / ɡlɒˈmɛrʊləs/ ( -li / -ˌlaɪ/)
  1. a knot of blood vessels in the kidney projecting into the capsular end of a urine-secreting tubule
  2. any cluster or coil of blood vessels, nerve fibres, etc, in the body
Etymology: 18th Century: from New Latin, diminutive of glomus ballgloˈmerular
'glomerulus' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
Bowman's capsule - Malpighian corpuscle - Malpighian tuft - glomerule - nephron

Forum discussions with the word(s) "glomerulus" in the title:


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