Wordnet 3.0
NOUN (1)
1.
a type of cell death in which the cell uses specialized cellular machinery to kill itself;
a cell suicide mechanism that enables metazoans to control cell number and eliminate cells that threaten the animal's survival;
[syn: apoptosis, programmed cell death, caspase-mediated cell death]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
programmed cell death
n 1: a type of cell death in which the cell uses specialized
cellular machinery to kill itself; a cell suicide mechanism
that enables metazoans to control cell number and eliminate
cells that threaten the animal's survival [syn:
apoptosis, programmed cell death, caspase-mediated
cell death]