meiosis

UK: /maɪˈəʊsɪs/ US: (mī ō′sis)

Inflections of 'meiosis' (n): npl: meioses

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

mei•o•sis  (mī ō′sis), n. 

1. Cell Biology part of the process of gamete formation, consisting of chromosome conjugation and two cell divisions, in the course of which the diploid chromosome number becomes reduced to the haploid. Cf. mitosis. 
2. Rhetoric
   • belittlement.
   • expressive understatement, esp. litotes.

• Greek meíōsis a lessening, equivalent. to meiō-, variant stem of meioûn to lessen (derivative of meíōn less) + -sis -sis
• 1580–90;

mei•ot•ic  (mī ot′ik), adj. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

meiosis / maɪˈəʊsɪs/ noun ( -ses / -ˌsiːz/)

1. a type of cell division in which a nucleus divides into four daughter nuclei, each containing half the chromosome number of the parent nucleus: occurs in all sexually reproducing organisms in which haploid gametes or spores are produced
   Compare mitosis
2. another word for litotes

Etymology: 16th Century: via New Latin from Greek: a lessening, from meioun to diminish, from meiōn less

meiotic / maɪˈɒtɪk/ adjective

meiˈotically adverb