Anabolism

//əˈnæ.bəˌlɪ.zəm// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The constructive metabolism of the body, as distinguished from catabolism. uncountable, usually

    "We used to think bodybuilding was all about anabolism by way of turning on testosterone and growth hormone secretion."

  2. 2
    the synthesis in living organisms of more complex substances (e.g., living tissue) from simpler ones together with the storage of energy wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
assimilationavatarbasal metabolismcatabolismcatalysisconstructive metabolism

Example

More examples

"We used to think bodybuilding was all about anabolism by way of turning on testosterone and growth hormone secretion."

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀνα- (ana-, “up”) + βάλλω (bállō, “I throw”) + -ism. Formed in analogy with metabolism.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.