Polymorphic
adj ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Relating to polymorphism (any sense), able to have several shapes or forms. not-comparable
"I refer to those genera which have sometimes been called "protean" or "polymorphic," in which the species present an inordinate amount of variation; and hardly two naturalists can agree which forms to rank as species and which as varieties."
- 2 Having or relating to the ability to take multiple data types for a single parameter. not-comparable
"Polymorphic redefinition in C++ is achieved by the use of virtual functions."
- 3 Relating to a compound that can crystallizes into two or more distinct forms (e.g. carbon, which can crystalize into coal, graphite, diamond, etc.) not-comparable
"The fact that polymorphic equilibrium is not a dynamic equilibrium is significant with respect to the random distribution of velocity of temperature agitation among the molecules."
- 1 having or occurring in several distinct forms wordnet
- 2 relating to the occurrence of more than one kind of individual (independent of sexual differences) in an interbreeding population wordnet
- 3 relating to the crystallization of a compound in two or more different forms wordnet
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"I refer to those genera which have sometimes been called "protean" or "polymorphic," in which the species present an inordinate amount of variation; and hardly two naturalists can agree which forms to rank as species and which as varieties."
Etymology
From poly- + -morphic.
Related phrases
More for "polymorphic"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.