ORGANIC

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does organic mean? 

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

1. a fertilizer that is derived from animal or vegetable matter

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

• ORGANIC (adjective)
  The adjective ORGANIC has 6 senses:

1. relating or belonging to the class of chemical compounds having a carbon basis

2. being or relating to or derived from or having properties characteristic of living organisms

3. involving or affecting physiology or bodily organs

4. of or relating to foodstuff grown or raised without synthetic fertilizers or pesticides or hormones

5. simple and healthful and close to nature

6. constitutional in the structure of something (especially your physical makeup)

  Familiarity information: ORGANIC used as an adjective is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ORGANIC (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A fertilizer that is derived from animal or vegetable matter

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

organic; organic fertiliser; organic fertilizer

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

fertiliser; fertilizer; plant food (any substance such as manure or a mixture of nitrates used to make soil more fertile)

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

bonemeal (fertilizer made of ground bones)

neem cake (residue after oil is pressed from neem seeds)

manure (any animal or plant material used to fertilize land especially animal excreta usually with litter material)

fish meal (ground dried fish used as fertilizer and as feed for domestic livestock)

guano (the excrement of sea birds; used as fertilizer)

Derivation:

organic (being or relating to or derived from or having properties characteristic of living organisms)

• ORGANIC (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Relating or belonging to the class of chemical compounds having a carbon basis

Context example:

hydrocarbons are organic compounds

Domain category:

chemical science; chemistry (the science of matter; the branch of the natural sciences dealing with the composition of substances and their properties and reactions)

Antonym:

inorganic (relating or belonging to the class of compounds not having a carbon basis)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Being or relating to or derived from or having properties characteristic of living organisms

Context example:

organic remains found in rock

Similar:

integrated; structured (resembling a living organism in organization or development)

nonsynthetic (involving or derived from living organisms; free from chemical treatments or additives)

Antonym:

inorganic (lacking the properties characteristic of living organisms)

Derivation:

organic (a fertilizer that is derived from animal or vegetable matter)

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

Sense 3

Meaning:

Involving or affecting physiology or bodily organs

Context example:

an organic disease

Domain category:

pathology (the branch of medical science that studies the causes and nature and effects of diseases)

Antonym:

functional (involving or affecting function rather than physiology)

Derivation:

organ (a fully differentiated structural and functional unit in an animal that is specialized for some particular function)

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

Sense 4

Meaning:

Of or relating to foodstuff grown or raised without synthetic fertilizers or pesticides or hormones

Context example:

organic chicken

Similar:

wholesome (conducive to or characteristic of physical or moral well-being)

Domain category:

health food (any natural or prepared food popularly believed to promote good health)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Simple and healthful and close to nature

Context example:

an organic lifestyle

Similar:

healthful (conducive to good health of body or mind)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Constitutional in the structure of something (especially your physical makeup)

Synonyms:

constituent; constitutional; constitutive; organic

Similar:

essential (basic and fundamental)

 Context examples 

Organic compounds and particular matter released when burning forests to clear land for agriculture can kill human lung cells or lead to irreversible damage to DNA, according to a new study.

(Lung damage from agricultural fires probed, SciDev.Net)

Organic compounds containing the -CN radical.

(Nitriles, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

A synthetic organic agent, N-nitroso-N-methylurethane is carcinogenic in all species tested.

(N-nitroso-N-methylurethane, NCI Thesaurus)

This protein plays a role in platelet degranulation, ATP hydrolysis and organic anion transport.

(Multidrug Resistance-Associated Protein 4, NCI Thesaurus)

An organic acid with UV absorption and antifibrotic properties.

(Aminobenzoic acid, NCI Thesaurus)

Organic processes in a cell or organism that are necessary to sustain life.

(Metabolic Process, NCI Thesaurus)

Any organic compound containing a formyl (-CHO) group.

(Aldehyde, NCI Thesaurus)

We could not—or at least we had not succeeded up to date in making organic life in our laboratories out of inorganic materials.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Any of a class of organic compounds with the general formula R2NNO or RNHNO, present in various foods and other products and found to be carcinogenic in laboratory animals.

(Nitrosamine, NCI Thesaurus)

Organic Cation Transporter proteins carry positively charged chemical substances containing covalently bound carbon atoms through solubility barriers, such as lipid membranes or across epithelial layers.

(Organic Cation Transporter, NCI Thesaurus)