Search Result for "dimorphism": 
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (2)

1. (chemistry) the property of certain substances that enables them to exist in two distinct crystalline forms;

2. (biology) the existence of two forms of individual within the same animal species (independent of sex differences);


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Dimorphism \Di*mor"phism\, n. [Cf. F. dimorphisme.] 1. (Biol.) Difference of form between members of the same species, as when a plant has two kinds of flowers, both hermaphrodite (as in the partridge berry), or when there are two forms of one or both sexes of the same species of butterfly. [1913 Webster] Dimorphism is the condition of the appearance of the same species under two dissimilar forms. --Darwin. [1913 Webster] 2. (Crystallog.) Crystallization in two independent forms of the same chemical compound, as of calcium carbonate as calcite and aragonite. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

dimorphism n 1: (chemistry) the property of certain substances that enables them to exist in two distinct crystalline forms 2: (biology) the existence of two forms of individual within the same animal species (independent of sex differences)