invertebrate
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
in- + vertebrate
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
invertebrate (plural invertebrates)
- An animal without vertebrae, i.e. backbone.
- 2024 March 20, Chris Howe, “High speed underneath the Chilterns...”, in RAIL, number 1005, page 33:
- Yet despite sounding inhospitable, grasslands such as this are home to a huge variety of smaller herbs and wildflowers, including some of the UK's rarest orchids and invertebrates, in addition to being home to butterfly species such as the Chalkhill Blue.
- (informal) A spineless person; a coward.
Antonyms[edit]
Translations[edit]
animal without backbone
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Adjective[edit]
invertebrate (not comparable)
- Lacking a backbone; without vertebrae.
- 1860, Recreative Science, page 110:
- Tear it up, and put a fragment under the microscope, and, wonder of wonders! see the maze of geometric forms exhibited in the bones of the creature; for who can help regarding the spicules as bones, even though a sponge be invertebrate?
- Cowardly, uncourageous; lacking character.
- Synonym: spineless
- 2022 November 21, Barney Ronay, “Iran’s brave and powerful gesture is a small wonder from a World Cup of woe”, in The Guardian[1]:
- This week Fifa’s morally invertebrate president, Gianni Infantino, gave a speech that attempted to paint his World Cup as a marker of a grand struggle between the bright new world and corrupt old Europe, with Infantino himself the Mandela at its centre.
Antonyms[edit]
Translations[edit]
lacking backbone
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See also[edit]
- inveterate (not to be confused)
Italian[edit]
Adjective[edit]
invertebrate
Categories:
- English terms prefixed with in-
- English 4-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
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- English informal terms
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- English uncomparable adjectives
- en:Fear
- Italian non-lemma forms
- Italian adjective forms