FILAMENT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does filament mean? 

• FILAMENT (noun)
  The noun FILAMENT has 4 senses:

1. a very slender natural or synthetic fiber

2. the stalk of a stamen

3. a threadlike structure (as a chainlike series of cells)

4. a thin wire (usually tungsten) that is heated white hot by the passage of an electric current

  Familiarity information: FILAMENT used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FILAMENT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A very slender natural or synthetic fiber

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

fibril; filament; strand

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

fiber; fibre (a slender and greatly elongated substance capable of being spun into yarn)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "filament"):

barb (one of the parallel filaments projecting from the main shaft of a feather)

cobweb; gossamer (filaments from a web that was spun by a spider)

chromatid (one of two identical strands into which a chromosome splits during mitosis)

myofibril; myofibrilla; sarcostyle (one of many contractile filaments that make up a striated muscle fiber)

rhizoid (any of various slender filaments that function as roots in mosses and ferns and fungi etc)

hypha (any of the threadlike filaments forming the mycelium of a fungus)

paraphysis (a sterile simple or branched filament or hair borne among sporangia; may be pointed or clubbed)

Derivation:

filamentous (thin in diameter; resembling a thread)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The stalk of a stamen

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

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

stalk; stem (a slender or elongated structure that supports a plant or fungus or a plant part or plant organ)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A threadlike structure (as a chainlike series of cells)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Synonyms:

filament; filum

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

anatomical structure; bodily structure; body structure; complex body part; structure (a particular complex anatomical part of a living thing and its construction and arrangement)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "filament"):

hair; pilus (any of the cylindrical filaments characteristically growing from the epidermis of a mammal)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A thin wire (usually tungsten) that is heated white hot by the passage of an electric current

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

conducting wire; wire (a metal conductor that carries electricity over a distance)

Holonyms ("filament" is a part of...):

bulb; electric-light bulb; electric light; incandescent lamp; light bulb; lightbulb (electric lamp consisting of a transparent or translucent glass housing containing a wire filament (usually tungsten) that emits light when heated by electricity)

 Context examples 

Cytokeratin 19 is an intermediate filament subunit.

(Cytokeratin 19, NCI Thesaurus)

An immunohistochemical technique to detect cytokeratin14,an intermediate filament protein, using monoclonal antibody to cytokeratin 14.

(Cytokeratin-14 Staining Method, NCI Thesaurus)

An immunohistochemical technique to detect cytokeratin 18, an intermediate filament protein, using monoclonal antibody to cytokeratin 18.

(Cytokeratin-18 Staining Method, NCI Thesaurus)

An immunohistochemical technique to detect cytokeratin 8, an intermediate filament protein, using monoclonal antibody to cytokeratin 8.

(Cytokeratin-8 Staining Method, NCI Thesaurus)

Every woollen filament of our garments, every hair of our heads and faces, was jewelled with a crystal globule.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

A protein that links cytoskeletal filaments to one another and modulates both the formation and stability of cellular structures.

(Crosslinker, NCI Thesaurus)

The microvilli contain filaments that stretch into the underlying cytoplasm.

(Brush Cell, NCI Thesaurus)

This gene is involved in the stabilization of actin filaments.

(CALD1 Gene, NCI Thesaurus)

This allele, which encodes caldesmon protein, plays a role in actin filament stability.

(CALD1 wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)

The Ca2+ binding to troponinC thereby triggers the sliding of thin and thick filaments, that is, the activation of a crossbridge and subsequent cardiac force development and/or cell shortening.

(Cardiac Muscle Contraction Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/KEGG)