CNIDARIAN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does cnidarian mean? 

• CNIDARIAN (noun)
  The noun CNIDARIAN has 1 sense:

1. radially symmetrical animals having saclike bodies with only one opening and tentacles with stinging structures; they occur in polyp and medusa forms

  Familiarity information: CNIDARIAN used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CNIDARIAN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Radially symmetrical animals having saclike bodies with only one opening and tentacles with stinging structures; they occur in polyp and medusa forms

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

cnidarian; coelenterate

Hypernyms ("cnidarian" is a kind of...):

invertebrate (any animal lacking a backbone or notochord; the term is not used as a scientific classification)

Meronyms (parts of "cnidarian"):

coelenteron (the saclike body cavity of a coelenterate)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cnidarian"):

polyp (one of two forms that coelenterates take (e.g. a hydra or coral): usually sedentary with a hollow cylindrical body usually with a ring of tentacles around the mouth)

medusa; medusan; medusoid (one of two forms that coelenterates take: it is the free-swimming sexual phase in the life cycle of a coelenterate; in this phase it has a gelatinous umbrella-shaped body and tentacles)

jellyfish (any of numerous usually marine and free-swimming coelenterates that constitute the sexually reproductive forms of hydrozoans and scyphozoans)

scyphozoan (any of various usually free-swimming marine coelenterates having a gelatinous medusoid stage as the dominant phase of its life cycle)

hydroid; hydrozoan (colonial coelenterates having the polyp phase dominant)

actinozoan; anthozoan (sessile marine coelenterates including solitary and colonial polyps; the medusoid phase is entirely suppressed)

Holonyms ("cnidarian" is a member of...):

Cnidaria; Coelenterata; phylum Cnidaria; phylum Coelenterata (hydras; polyps; jellyfishes; sea anemones; corals)

 Context examples 

The polyp, a cnidarian as are jellyfish, provides stinging protection and secretes a calcium shell, and the algae performs photosynthesis, produces oxygen and gives the coral its color.

(Voracious fish defend coral reefs against warming, Wikinews)

This does not kill the cnidarian partner but does leave it badly weakened and vulnerable to disease.

(Voracious fish defend coral reefs against warming, Wikinews)

Changing ocean environments have led to a phenomenon called coral bleaching when warmer waters cause the cnidarian to expel the algae from its body, which turns the coral reefs white.

(Voracious fish defend coral reefs against warming, Wikinews)