invertebrate
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
in- + vertebrate
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
invertebrate (plural invertebrates)
AntonymsEdit
TranslationsEdit
animal without backbone
|
AdjectiveEdit
invertebrate (not comparable)
- Lacking a backbone; without vertebrae.
- 1860, Recreative Science (page 110)
- Tear it up, and put a fragment under the microscope, and, wonder of wonders! see the maze of geometric forms exhibited in the bones of the creature; for who can help regarding the spicules as bones, even though a sponge be invertebrate?
- 1860, Recreative Science (page 110)
- Cowardly, uncourageous; lacking character.
- Synonym: spineless
- 2022 November 21, Barney Ronay, “Iran’s brave and powerful gesture is a small wonder from a World Cup of woe”, in The Guardian[1]:
- This week Fifa’s morally invertebrate president, Gianni Infantino, gave a speech that attempted to paint his World Cup as a marker of a grand struggle between the bright new world and corrupt old Europe, with Infantino himself the Mandela at its centre.
AntonymsEdit
TranslationsEdit
lacking backbone
|
See alsoEdit
- inveterate (not to be confused)
ItalianEdit
AdjectiveEdit
invertebrate