agamous

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adjective

Having no marital partner or pair-bonded mate; being neither monogamous (pair-bonded) nor polygamous.

Similar
agamicagamogeneticapomicticparthenogeneticasexualnonsexual
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Meanings

adjectiveagamous (not comparable)
  1. not comparableHaving no marital partner or pair-bonded mate; being neither monogamous (pair-bonded) nor polygamous.

    There is of course no universal pattern: families may be nuclear or extended with agamous, monogamous or polygamous individuals.

    1998, Mallarapu Muni Krishna Reddy, Population and Society in India: Some Selected Readings Based on Qualitative Studies, Kanishka Publishers Distributors
    3 more examples

    First culture people are strictly monogamous, not agamous or polygamous. Incidentally, it is reasonable to suppose that sex behavior is of much greater importance in the life of the people of advanced culture, owing to the large number of […]

    1935, Edward Lee Thorndike, Adult Interests

    Divandu albimarginatus is a maternal mouthbrooder (latest observations demonstrated larvophilic), that does without pair-bonding (agamous or polygamous). Incubation lasted for approximately fourteen days, […]

    2004, Anton Lamboj, The Cichlid Fishes of Western Africa

    Among cichlid species, there are monogamous as well as polygamous breeders. […] Cichlids exhibit monogamy, polygyny, polyandry, and agamy. […] In agamous relationships, there is no bond formed at all. They separate from each other immediately after spawning.

    2012, David Oconner, Cichlid Fish: The Fascinationg World of Cichlid Care, David Oc, →ISBN, page 28
  2. not comparablebiologySynonym of agamic: asexual (of reproduction: occurring without union of male and female gametes).

    It is now a hundred years since the celebrated observations of O. F. Müller on agamous reproduction (gemmiparity) of the Naiades was published, and although there is no reason to question their perfect accuracy on all essential points, […]

    1872, The American Naturalist: A Bi-monthly Journal Devoted to the Advancement and Correlation of the Biological Sciences, page 507

    Synonyms: agamic

  3. not comparablebiologyHaving no visible sex organs; asexual or cryptogamous.

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectiveSynonym of agamic: asexual (of reproduction: occurring without union of male and female gametes).

Similar
agamic

More synonyms by meaning

adjective(of reproduction) not involving the fusion of male and female gametes in reproduction

Similar
agamicagamogeneticapomicticparthenogeneticasexualnonsexual
Also see
agamicagamogeneticapomicticasexualparthenogenetic

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

From a- + -gamous.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

agamous. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/agamous

MLA

“agamous.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/agamous. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “agamous,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/agamous.

Source: agamous on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.