DEDIFFERENTIATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does dedifferentiate mean? 

• DEDIFFERENTIATE (verb)
  The verb DEDIFFERENTIATE has 1 sense:

1. lose specialization in form or function

  Familiarity information: DEDIFFERENTIATE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DEDIFFERENTIATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they dedifferentiate    ... he / she / it dedifferentiates   
Past simple: dedifferentiated   
Past participle: dedifferentiated   
-ing form: dedifferentiating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Lose specialization in form or function

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "dedifferentiate" is one way to...):

develop (grow, progress, unfold, or evolve through a process of evolution, natural growth, differentiation, or a conducive environment)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Antonym:

differentiate (become different during development)

Derivation:

dedifferentiation (the loss of specialization in form or function)

 Context examples 

A malignant neoplasm characterized by the presence of a combination of liposarcomatous morphologic subtypes: myxoid/round cell and well differentiated/dedifferentiated liposarcoma or myxoid/round cell and pleomorphic liposarcoma.

(Mixed Liposarcoma, NCI Thesaurus)

Representative morphologic variants include: well differentiated, dedifferentiated, pleomorphic, and myxoid/round cell liposarcoma.

(Liposarcoma, NCI Thesaurus)

The tumor maybe one of several histologic types including well-differentiated, dedifferentiated, myxoid/round cell, and pleomorphic liposarcoma.

(Adult Liposarcoma, NCI Thesaurus)