Antipatharia

plural noun

An·ti·pa·thar·ia | \ ˌantēpəˈtha(a)rēə, -tə̇- \

Definition of Antipatharia

: an order or suborder of Anthozoa comprising the black or thorny corals, all having a usually brown or black axial skeleton that is much branched and hornlike and polyps with few mesenteries or tentacles

History and Etymology for Antipatharia

borrowed from New Latin, from Antipathes, genus of antipatharian corals (borrowed from Greek antipathés “kind of black coral (in Dioscorides),” literally, “remedy for suffering,” from neuter of antipathḗs “in exchange for suffering, of opposite feelings”) + -aria -aria entry 2

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