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)