Nucleic acid

/njuːˈkliː.ɪk ˈæsɪd/ noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Any acidic, chainlike biological macromolecule consisting of multiple repeat units of phosphoric acid, sugar and purine and pyrimidine bases; they are involved in the preservation, replication and expression of hereditary information in every living cell countable, uncountable
  2. 2
    (biochemistry) any of various macromolecules composed of nucleotide chains that are vital constituents of all living cells wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
biologicaldeoxyribonucleic aciddnadna moleculeeducationalgenetic

Etymology

nucleic + acid; named for the fact that in eukaryotes, some of the important actions of such acids are especially associated with the nucleus of the cell.

Next best steps

Browse writing guidesExplore topic clusters