Hemiparasite
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Any parasitic plant that obtains energy by photosynthesis as well as from its host
"Most mistletoes are "hemiparasites." This means they don't rely on their hosts for all their needs: Instead, they harvest the sun's energy to make some sugars for themselves. Nonetheless, if you're a tree, you don't want to be festooned with them. Two or three shouldn't be a problem, but dozens of mistletoes can lead to water stress, insect infestation or even death."
- 2 a parasitic plant that contains some chlorophyll and therefore is capable of photosynthesis wordnet
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"Most mistletoes are "hemiparasites." This means they don't rely on their hosts for all their needs: Instead, they harvest the sun's energy to make some sugars for themselves. Nonetheless, if you're a tree, you don't want to be festooned with them. Two or three shouldn't be a problem, but dozens of mistletoes can lead to water stress, insect infestation or even death."
Etymology
From hemi- + parasite.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.