teratoid

comparative more teratoid · superlative most teratoid

1. biologyMonster-like, exhibiting abnormal development.

   Lucien, staring goggle-eyed at the only brother he’s ever had, is standing very still, face still unwittingly teratoid, the broom at an angle in his hand, the Colt dangling at his side, […]

   1996, David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest […], Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 486

   Synonyms: abnormal, malformed, monstrous

plural teratoids

1. medicineAn abnormal tumor similar to a teratoma.

   They can be divided into dermoids (only an epithelial layer present) and teratoids (all three germ layers present).

   2005, Richard A. Bordow, Andrew L. Ries, Timothy A. Morris, Manual of Clinical Problems in Pulmonary Medicine, 6th edition, page 610

   1 more example

   In each of these divisions there are subdivisions, according as the parasite consists of a more or less recognisable fœtus, or only of a mass of fœtal tissue (teratomata, teratoids, dermoids).

   1903, Encyclopaedia Medica, volume 13, page 138

2. literatureA mutant.

   I wanted to explore how at the launch of a new millennium many people were beginning to feel like teratoids in the global commodity exchange.

   2002, Lance Olsen, “Omniphage: Rock 'n' Roll and Avant-Pop Science Fiction”, in Edging Into the Future: Science Fiction and Contemporary Cultural Transformation, →ISBN, page 51

   2 more examples

   The objects floating in the bath and lazing about on the bathroom's floor are all monsters, teratoids dehumanized by the husking of their clothes.

   2002, Aiko Ito, Graeme Wilson, I Am a Cat, volume 2, translation of original by Natsume Soseki, →ISBN, page 345

   He had little time, however, to ponder his lack of reflex, for new incident forced his attention back to the ridge where the four teratoids had first broken from cover.

   2007, Geoffrey Verdegast, Of Staves and Sigmas: Souls of Ergos Book One, →ISBN, page 67