What does "centrosome" mean?

An organelle, near the nucleus in the cytoplasm of most organisms, that controls the organization of its microtubules.

What is a synonym for "centrosome"?

Common synonyms include: central body, cilia, cytocenter, cytocentrum, flagellum, vacuole.

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
An organelle, near the nucleus in the cytoplasm of most organisms, that controls the organization of its microtubules.
2
small region of cytoplasm adjacent to the nucleus; contains the centrioles and serves to organize the microtubules wordnet

"The singular centrosome in animal cells duplicates during the S phase of interphase, in preparation for cell division later on."

From centro- + -some.

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