body - Definition | Dictionary definition of body

Definition of body

Nouns

the entire structure of an organism (an animal, plant, or human being)

"he felt as if his whole body were on fire"

Synonyms:: organic structure, physical structure

Types:: show 9 types...; hide 9 types...; life form
the characteristic bodily form of a mature organism; anatomy, bod, build, chassis, figure, flesh, form, frame, human body, material body, physical body, physique, shape, soma
alternative names for the body of a human being; person
a human body (usually including the clothing); juvenile body
the body of a young person; adult body
the body of an adult human being; male body
the body of a male human being; female body
the body of a female human being; live body
the body of a living animal or person; system
the living body considered as made up of interdependent components forming a unified whole

Type of:: natural object
an object occurring naturally; not made by man

a group of persons associated by some common tie or occupation and regarded as an entity

"the whole body filed out of the auditorium"

"the student body"

"administrative body"

Examples:: show 4 examples...; hide 4 examples...; Demerara
a former Dutch colony in South America; now a part of Guyana; Rock of Gibraltar
location of a colony of the United Kingdom on a limestone promontory at the southern tip of Spain; strategically important because it can control the entrance of ships into the Mediterranean; one of the Pillars of Hercules; Plymouth Colony
colony formed by the Pilgrims when they arrived at Plymouth Rock in 1620; it was absorbed into the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691; New Amsterdam
a settlement established by the Dutch near the mouth of Hudson River and the southern end of Manhattan Island; annexed by the English in 1664 and renamed New York

Types:: show 57 types...; hide 57 types...; public
a body of people sharing some common interest; Christendom, Christianity
the collective body of Christians throughout the world and history (found predominantly in Europe and the Americas and Australia); church
the body of people who attend or belong to a particular local church; College of Cardinals, Sacred College
(Roman Catholic Church) the body of cardinals who advise the Pope and elect new Popes; administration, brass, establishment, governance, governing body, organisation, organization
the persons (or committees or departments etc.) who make up a body for the purpose of administering something; Curia
(Roman Catholic Church) the central administration governing the Roman Catholic Church; top brass
the most important persons in a governing body; executive
persons who administer the law; bench, judiciary
persons who administer justice; county council
the elected governing body of a county; government officials, officialdom
people elected or appointed to administer a government; management
those in charge of running a business; corps
a body of people associated together; corps diplomatique, diplomatic corps, diplomatic service
the body of diplomatic personnel; constituency
the body of voters who elect a representative for their area; electoral college
the body of electors who formally elect the United States president and vice president; school
a body of creative artists or writers or thinkers linked by a similar style or by similar teachers; Ashcan School, Eight
a group of United States painters founded in 1907 and noted for their realistic depictions of sordid aspects of city life; deconstructivism
a school of architecture based on the philosophical theory of deconstruction; historical school
a school of 19th century German economists and legal philosophers who tried to explain modern economic systems in evolutionary or historical terms; pointillism
a school of painters who used a technique of painting with tiny dots of pure colors that would blend in the viewer's eye; developed by Georges Seurat and his followers late in 19th century France; art nouveau
a French school of art and architecture popular in the 1890s; characterized by stylized natural forms and sinuous outlines of such objects as leaves and vines and flowers; lake poets
English poets at the beginning of the 19th century who lived in the Lake District and were inspired by it; secession, sezession
an Austrian school of art and architecture parallel to the French art nouveau in the 1890s; college
the body of faculty and students of a college; university
the body of faculty and students at a university; gown
the members of a university as distinguished from the other residents of the town in which the university is located; varsity
a British abbreviation of `university'; usually refers to Oxford University or Cambridge University; faculty, staff
the body of teachers and administrators at a school; representation
a body of legislators that serve in behalf of some constituency; colony, settlement
a body of people who settle far from home but maintain ties with their homeland; inhabitants remain nationals of their home state but are not literally under the home state's system of government; frontier settlement, outpost
a settlement on the frontier of civilization; Plantation
a newly established colony (especially in the colonization of North America); proprietary colony
a colony given to a proprietor to govern (in 17th century); ulama, ulema
the body of Mullahs (Muslim scholars trained in Islam and Islamic law) who are the interpreters of Islam's sciences and doctrines and laws and the chief guarantors of continuity in the spiritual and intellectual history of the Islamic community; leaders, leadership
the body of people who lead a group; Rome
the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church; high command, supreme headquarters
the highest leaders in an organization (e.g. the commander-in-chief and senior officers of the military); militia
the entire body of physically fit civilians eligible by law for military service; membership, rank
the body of members of an organization or group; occupational group, vocation
a body of people doing the same kind of work; profession
the body of people in a learned occupation; press corps
a group of journalists representing different publications who all cover the same topics; opposition
a body of people united in opposing something; INC, Iraqi National Congress
a heterogeneous collection of groups united in their opposition to Saddam Hussein's government of Iraq; formed in 1992 it is comprised of Sunni and Shiite Arabs and Kurds who hope to build a new government; immigration
the body of immigrants arriving during a specified interval; inspectorate
a body of inspectors; jury
a body of citizens sworn to give a true verdict according to the evidence presented in a court of law; grand jury
a jury to inquire into accusations of crime and to evaluate the grounds for indictments; hung jury
a jury that is unable to agree on a verdict (the result is a mistrial); petit jury, petty jury
a jury of 12 to determine the facts and decide the issue in civil or criminal proceedings; blue ribbon jury, special jury
a jury whose members are selected for special knowledge for a case involving complicated issues; panel
a group of people gathered for a special purpose as to plan or discuss an issue or judge a contest etc; panel, venire
(law) a group of people summoned for jury service (from whom a jury will be chosen); enrollment, registration
the body of people (such as students) who register or enroll at the same time; vote
a body of voters who have the same interests; diaspora
the body of Jews (or Jewish communities) outside Palestine or modern Israel

Type of:: social group
people sharing some social relation

a natural object consisting of a dead animal or person

"they found the body in the lake"

Synonyms:: dead body

Types:: show 6 types...; hide 6 types...; carcase, carcass
the dead body of an animal especially one slaughtered and dressed for food; carrion
the dead and rotting body of an animal; unfit for human food; roadkill
the dead body of an animal that has been killed on a road by a vehicle; cadaver, clay, corpse, remains, stiff
the dead body of a human being; cremains
the remains of a dead body after cremation; mummy
a body embalmed and dried and wrapped for burial (as in ancient Egypt)

Type of:: natural object
an object occurring naturally; not made by man

an individual 3-dimensional object that has mass and that is distinguishable from other objects

"heavenly body"

Types:: show 31 types...; hide 31 types...; chromosome
a threadlike strand of DNA in the cell nucleus that carries the genes in a linear order; sex chromosome
(genetics) a chromosome that determines the sex of an individual; autosome, somatic chromosome
any chromosome that is not a sex chromosome; appear in pairs in body cells but as single chromosomes in spermatozoa; acentric chromosome
a chromosome lacking a centromere; acrocentric chromosome
a chromosome with the centromere near one end so that one chromosomal arm is short and one is long; metacentric chromosome
a chromosome having two equal arms because the centromere is in median position; telocentric chromosome
a chromosome like a straight rod with the centromere in terminal position; cellular inclusion, inclusion, inclusion body
any small intracellular body found within another (characteristic of certain diseases); plasmid, plasmid DNA
a small cellular inclusion consisting of a ring of DNA that is not in a chromosome but is capable of autonomous replication; Russell's body, cancer body
an inclusion body found in plasma cells in cases of cancer; mass
a body of matter without definite shape; coprolith, faecalith, fecalith, stercolith
a hard mass of fecal matter; drift
a large mass of material that is heaped up by the wind or by water currents; mat
a mass that is densely tangled or interwoven; mush, pulp
any soft or soggy mass; particle, subatomic particle
a body having finite mass and internal structure but negligible dimensions; virion
(virology) a complete viral particle; nucleic acid and capsid (and a lipid envelope in some viruses); alpha particle
a positively charged particle that is the nucleus of the helium atom; emitted from natural or radioactive isotopes; beta particle
a high-speed electron or positron emitted in the decay of a radioactive isotope; boson
any particle that obeys Bose-Einstein statistics but not the Pauli exclusion principle; all nuclei with an even mass number are bosons; deuteron
the nucleus of deuterium; consists of one proton and one neutron; used as a bombarding particle in accelerators; elementary particle, fundamental particle
(physics) a particle that is less complex than an atom; regarded as constituents of all matter; fermion
any particle that obeys Fermi-Dirac statistics and is subject to the Pauli exclusion principle; ion
a particle that is electrically charged (positive or negative); an atom or molecule or group that has lost or gained one or more electrons; magnetic monopole
a hypothetical particle with a single magnetic pole instead of the usual two; micelle
an electrically charged particle built up from polymeric molecules or ions and occurring in certain colloidal electrolytic solutions like soaps and detergents; prion
(microbiology) an infectious protein particle similar to a virus but lacking nucleic acid; thought to be the agent responsible for scrapie and other degenerative diseases of the nervous system; virino
(microbiology) a hypothetical infectious particle thought to be the cause of scrapie and other degenerative diseases of the central nervous system; consists of nucleic acid in a protective coat of host cell proteins; scintilla
a sparkling glittering particle; superstring
a hypothetical particle that is the elementary particle in a theory of space-time; thermion
an electrically charged particle (electron or ion) emitted by a substance at a high temperature

Type of:: natural object
an object occurring naturally; not made by man

the body excluding the head and neck and limbs

Synonyms:: torso, trunk

Type of:: body part
any part of an organism such as an organ or extremity

a collection of particulars considered as a system

"a body of law"

"a body of doctrine"

"a body of precedents"

Type of:: scheme, system
a group of independent but interrelated elements comprising a unified whole

the property of holding together and retaining its shape

"wool has more body than rayon"

Synonyms:: consistence, consistency, eubstance

Types:: show 32 types...; hide 32 types...; gaseousness
having the consistency of a gas; bubbliness, effervescence, frothiness
the property of giving off bubbles; foaminess
the property of being foamy; viscosity, viscousness
resistance of a liquid to shear forces (and hence to flow); stickiness
the property of sticking to a surface; sliminess
a property resembling or being covered with slime; cohesiveness, glueyness, gluiness, gumminess, ropiness, tackiness, viscidity, viscidness
the property of being cohesive and sticky; gelatinousness, glutinosity, glutinousness
the property of having a viscosity like jelly; thickness
resistance to flow; semifluidity
a property midway between a solid and a liquid; creaminess, soupiness
the property of having the thickness of heavy cream; thinness
a consistency of low viscosity; fluidity, fluidness, liquidity, liquidness, runniness
the property of flowing easily; wateriness
the property of resembling the viscosity of water; hardness
the property of being rigid and resistant to pressure; not easily scratched; measured on Mohs scale; firmness
the property of being unyielding to the touch; incompressibility
the property of being incompressible; softness
the property of giving little resistance to pressure and being easily cut or molded; compressibility, sponginess, squeezability
the property of being able to occupy less space; downiness, featheriness, fluffiness
a light softness; flabbiness, flaccidity, limpness
a flabby softness; mushiness, pulpiness
a mushy pulpy softness; breakableness
the consistency of something that breaks under pressure; brittleness, crispiness, crispness
firm but easily broken; crumbliness, friability
excessive breakableness; unbreakableness
a consistency of something that does not break under pressure; porosity, porousness
the property of being porous; being able to absorb fluids; sponginess
the porosity of a sponge; permeability, permeableness
the property of something that can be pervaded by a liquid (as by osmosis or diffusion); solidity, solidness
the consistency of a solid; compactness
the consistency of a compact solid; impermeability, impermeableness
the property of something that cannot be pervaded by a liquid

Type of:: property
a basic or essential attribute shared by all members of a class

the central message of a communication

"the body of the message was short"

Type of:: content, message, subject matter, substance
what a communication that is about something is about

the main mass of a thing

Type of:: mass
the property of a body that causes it to have weight in a gravitational field

a resonating chamber in a musical instrument (as the body of a violin)

Synonyms:: soundbox

Type of:: cavity resonator, resonating chamber, resonator
a hollow chamber whose dimensions allow the resonant oscillation of electromagnetic or acoustic waves

the external structure of a vehicle

"the body of the car was badly rusted"

Types:: bodywork
the exterior body of a motor vehicle; fuselage
the central body of an airplane that is designed to accommodate the crew and passengers (or cargo)