ACANTHOCEPHALAN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does acanthocephalan mean? 

• ACANTHOCEPHALAN (noun)
  The noun ACANTHOCEPHALAN has 1 sense:

1. any of various worms living parasitically in intestines of vertebrates having a retractile proboscis covered with many hooked spines

  Familiarity information: ACANTHOCEPHALAN used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ACANTHOCEPHALAN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of various worms living parasitically in intestines of vertebrates having a retractile proboscis covered with many hooked spines

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

acanthocephalan; spiny-headed worm

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

worm (any of numerous relatively small elongated soft-bodied animals especially of the phyla Annelida and Chaetognatha and Nematoda and Nemertea and Platyhelminthes; also many insect larvae)

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

Acanthocephala; phylum Acanthocephala (phylum or class of elongated wormlike parasites that live in the intestines of vertebrates: spiny-headed worms)