- one of the two forms of individual that occur in coelenterates. It usually has a hollow cylindrical body with a ring of tentacles around the mouth
- Also called: polypus a small vascularized growth arising from the surface of a mucous membrane, having a rounded base or a stalklike projection
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
pol•yp /ˈpɑlɪp/USA pronunciation
n.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- Zoologythe rounded body form in the life cycle of a jellyfish or other similar animal, having stinging tentacles around the mouth and usually having the opposite end attached to a surface: [countable]colorful polyps in the waters of the Pacific.[uncountable]a sea full of polyp.
- Pathology a growth that sticks up or out from a mucous surface of the body, as the nose:[countable]a polyp in the nose.
pol•yp
(pol′ip),USA pronunciation n.
pol′yp•ous, adj.
- Zoology
- a sedentary type of animal form characterized by a more or less fixed base, columnar body, and free end with mouth and tentacles, esp. as applied to coelenterates.
- an individual zooid of a compound or colonial organism.
- [Pathol.]a projecting growth from a mucous surface, as of the nose, being either a tumor or a hypertrophy of the mucous membrane.
- dialect, dialectal Greek poulýpous octopus, nasal tumor (Attic polýpous, genitive polýpodos; see poly-, -pod)
- Medieval Latin, Latin pōlypus
- Middle English polip, short for polipus nasal tumor (later, also cephalopod, now obsolete) 1350–1400
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
polyp /ˈpɒlɪp/ n
'polyp' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
anthozoan
- coelenterate
- holothurian
- hydra
- hydroid
- medusa
- pneumatophore
- polypus
- theca
- vegetate
- coral
- corallite
- cup coral
- Ectoprocta
- entoproct
- Entoprocta
- gonangium
- hydranth
- hydrozoan
- lithophyte
- polypary
- polypod
- polypoid
- polyposis
- polypous