parasitism

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun the relation between two different kinds of organisms in which one receives benefits from the other by causing damage to it (usually not fatal damage)

From parasite + -ism. Cognate with French parasitisme and Portuguese and Spanish parasitismo.

Add the suppression of parasitism, and it will be solved. — Les Misérables, Victor Hugo
By and by we shall see how they attempted to justify this apparent parasitism. — A history of economic doctrines : $b from the time of the physiocrats to the present day, Charles Gide
In crustaceans such as the rhizocephala, which must formerly have shown a more differentiated structure, fixity and parasitism accompany the degeneration and almost complete disappearance of the nervous system. — Creative Evolution, Bergson, Henri

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