FUNGUS (fungi)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: fungi   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does fungus mean? 

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

1. an organism of the kingdom Fungi lacking chlorophyll and feeding on organic matter; ranging from unicellular or multicellular organisms to spore-bearing syncytia

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

 Dictionary entry details 

• FUNGUS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An organism of the kingdom Fungi lacking chlorophyll and feeding on organic matter; ranging from unicellular or multicellular organisms to spore-bearing syncytia

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

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

being; organism (a living thing that has (or can develop) the ability to act or function independently)

Meronyms (parts of "fungus"):

cap; pileus (a fruiting structure resembling an umbrella or a cone that forms the top of a stalked fleshy fungus such as a mushroom)

mycelium (the vegetative part of a fungus consisting of a mass of branching threadlike hyphae)

volva (cuplike structure around the base of the stalk of certain fungi)

hymenium (spore-bearing layer of cells in certain fungi containing asci or basidia)

Domain member category:

squamule (a minute scale)

immune reaction; immune response; immunologic response (a bodily defense reaction that recognizes an invading substance (an antigen: such as a virus or fungus or bacteria or transplanted organ) and produces antibodies specific against that antigen)

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

puffball; true puffball (any of various fungi of the family Lycoperdaceae whose round fruiting body discharges a cloud of spores when mature)

Grifola frondosa; hen-of-the-woods; hen of the woods; Polyporus frondosus (large greyish-brown edible fungus forming a mass of overlapping caps that somewhat resembles a hen at the base of trees)

Gastroboletus turbinatus (a fungus with a cap that can vary from red to dark brown; superficially resembles a bolete)

Gastroboletus scabrosus (a dingy yellow brown fungus with a rough stalk that superficially resembles a bolete)

Macowanites americanus (a small fungus with a fragile cap that cracks to expose the white context and a white stalk that is practically enclosed by the cap)

Gastrocybe lateritia (a species of Gastrocybe fungus that has a conic cap and a thin stalk; at first the stalk is upright but as it matures the stalk bends over and then downward; the cap then gelatinizes and a slimy mass containing the spores falls to the ground as the stalk collapses)

bird's-nest fungus (any of various fungi of the family Nidulariaceae having a cup-shaped body containing several egg-shaped structure enclosing the spores)

Radiigera fuscogleba (a fungus similar to an earthstar except that it does not open up; the spore mass is brown at maturity with a column of sterile tissue extending up into it)

earthstar (any fungus of the family Geastraceae; in form suggesting a puffball whose outer peridium splits into the shape of a star)

agaric; Fomes igniarius (fungus used in the preparation of punk for fuses)

carrion fungus; stinkhorn (any of various ill-smelling brown-capped fungi of the order Phallales)

gasteromycete; gastromycete (any fungus of the class Gasteromycetes)

gyromitra (any fungus of the genus Gyromitra)

lorchel (a large fungus of the family Helvellaceae)

false morel (a fungus of the family Helvellaceae)

Wynnea sparassoides (a fungus with a long solid stalk embedded in soil and a yellow-brown head shaped like a cauliflower)

Wynnea americana (a fungus composed of several apothecia that look like elongated rabbit ears; the sterile surface is dark brown and warty; the fertile surface is smooth and pinkish orange)

brown root rot fungus; Thielavia basicola (fungus causing brown root rot in plants of the pea and potato and cucumber families)

verticillium (a fungus of the genus Verticillium)

earth-tongue; earthtongue (any club-shaped fungus of the genus Geoglossum)

rhizoctinia (any fungus now or formerly belonging to the form genus Rhizoctinia)

dry rot (a fungus causing dry rot)

green smut fungus; Ustilaginoidea virens (fungus causing green smut in rice)

Cercospora kopkei; yellow spot fungus (fungus causing yellow spot (a sugarcane disease in Australia))

blastomycete (any of various yeastlike budding fungi of the genus Blastomyces; cause disease in humans and other animals)

candida (any of the yeastlike imperfect fungi of the genus Candida)

monilia (any of the yeastlike imperfect fungi of the genus Monilia)

Aspergillus fumigatus (a mold causing aspergillosis in birds and man)

mildew (a fungus that produces a superficial (usually white) growth on organic matter)

mold; mould (a fungus that produces a superficial growth on various kinds of damp or decaying organic matter)

felt fungus; Septobasidium pseudopedicellatum (fungus that frequently encircles twigs and branches of various trees especially citrus trees in southern United States)

smut; smut fungus (any fungus of the order Ustilaginales)

rust; rust fungus (any of various fungi causing rust disease in plants)

jelly fungus (any fungus of the order Tremellales or Auriculariales whose fruiting body is jellylike in consistency when fresh)

bolete (any fungus of the family Boletaceae)

slime mold; slime mould (a naked mass of protoplasm having characteristics of both plants and animals; sometimes classified as protoctists)

clubroot fungus; Plasmodiophora brassicae (a fungus resembling slime mold that causes swellings or distortions of the roots of cabbages and related plants)

Phytophthora infestans (fungus causing late blight in solanaceous plants especially tomatoes and potatoes)

Phytophthora citrophthora (causes brown rot gummosis in citrus fruits)

pythium (any fungus of the genus Pythium)

white rust (fungus causing a disease characterized by a white powdery mass of conidia)

Saprolegnia ferax; white fungus (a fungus that attacks living fish and tadpoles and spawn causing white fungus disease: a coating of white hyphae on especially peripheral parts (as fins))

potato wart fungus; Synchytrium endobioticum (fungus causing potato wart disease in potato tubers)

pond-scum parasite (an aquatic fungus of genus Synchytriaceae that is parasitic on pond scum)

earth-ball; earthnut; truffle (any of various highly prized edible subterranean fungi of the genus Tuber; grow naturally in southwestern Europe)

false truffle (any of various fungi of the family Rhizopogonaceae having subterranean fruiting bodies similar to the truffle)

stalked puffball (mushroom of the genus Tulostoma that resembles a puffball)

earthball; false truffle; hard-skinned puffball; puffball (any of various fungi of the genus Scleroderma having hard-skinned subterranean fruiting bodies resembling truffles)

sclerotinia (any fungus of the genus Sclerotinia; some causing brown rot diseases in plants)

dead-man's-fingers; dead-men's-fingers; Xylaria polymorpha (the fruiting bodies of the fungi of the genus Xylaria)

black root rot fungus; Xylaria mali (fungus causing black root rot in apples)

Claviceps purpurea; ergot (a fungus that infects various cereal plants forming compact black masses of branching filaments that replace many grains of the plant; source of medicinally important alkaloids and of lysergic acid)

Lentinus lepideus; scaly lentinus (a fungus with a scaly cap and white flesh and a ring on the stalk (with scales below the ring); odor reminiscent of licorice)

yeast (any of various single-celled fungi that reproduce asexually by budding or division)

ascomycete; ascomycetous fungus (any fungus of the class Ascomycetes (or subdivision Ascomycota) in which the spores are formed inside an ascus)

sac fungus (any of various ascomycetous fungi in which the spores are formed in a sac or ascus)

Volvaria bombycina (a parasite on various trees)

coffee fungus; Pellicularia koleroga (fungus causing a disease in coffee and some other tropical plants)

Pellicularia filamentosa; potato fungus; Rhizoctinia solani (fungus causing a disease in potatoes characterized by black scurfy spots on the tubers)

bottom rot fungus; Corticium solani (fungus causing bottom rot in lettuce)

Corticium salmonicolor; pink disease fungus (fungus causing pink disease in citrus and coffee and rubber trees etc)

Ceratostomella ulmi; Dutch elm fungus (fungus causing Dutch elm disease)

Chinese black mushroom; golden oak mushroom; Lentinus edodes; Oriental black mushroom; shiitake; shiitake mushroom (edible east Asian mushroom having a golden or dark brown to blackish cap and an inedible stipe)

basidiomycete; basidiomycetous fungi (any of various fungi of the subdivision Basidiomycota)

true fungus (any of numerous fungi of the division Eumycota)

lichen (any thallophytic plant of the division Lichenes; occur as crusty patches or bushy growths on tree trunks or rocks or bare ground etc.)

tooth fungus (a fungus of the family Hydnaceae)

coral fungus (any of numerous fungi of the family Clavariaceae often brightly colored that grow in often intricately branched clusters like coral)

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

Fungi; fungus kingdom; kingdom Fungi (the taxonomic kingdom including yeast, molds, smuts, mushrooms, and toadstools; distinct from the green plants)

Derivation:

fungal; fungous (of or relating to fungi)

 Context examples 

The study of fungus in a nonclinical environment, ie not as a pathogen

(Mycology, Nonclinical, NCI Thesaurus)

Molds are fungi that can be found both outdoors and indoors.

(Molds, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

A very large group of microscopic fungi that live on plant or animal matter.

(Mold, NCI Thesaurus)

On Earth, these compounds are created by some biological processes — in organisms ranging from humans to fungi — as well as by industrial processes such as the production of dyes and medical drugs.

(ALMA and Rosetta Detect Freon-40 in Space, ESO)

DNA is extracted from samples, and then specific regions that are universal to bacteria or fungi are analyzed to distinguish the microbes.

(Algal Virus Infects, Affects Humans, NIH)

It is made by certain strains of bacteria and kills fungi by binding to their membranes.

(Mycostatin, NCI Dictionary)

Cultured human brain cells infected with this fungus also had higher survival rates when they were altered to produce more beta-amyloid.

(Alzheimer’s protein may have natural antibiotic role, NIH)

A member of a large group of substances found in plants and in some fungi.

(Alkaloid, NCI Dictionary)

A drug used in the treatment of infections caused by fungi.

(amphotericin B, NCI Dictionary)

It was furred outside by a thick layer of dust, and damp and worms had eaten through the wood, so that a crop of livid fungi was growing on the inside of it.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)