noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A theory seeking to explain certain physiological and pathological phenomena in terms of animalcules. archaic, uncountable
2. 2
   The theory that the spermatozoon and not the ovum contains the whole of the embryo; spermism. archaic, uncountable

Antonyms

All antonyms

ovism

Etymology

Compare French animalculisme. By surface analysis, animalcule + -ism.

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