plural base pairs
: one of the pairs of nucleotide bases on complementary strands of nucleic acid that consist of a purine on one strand joined to a pyrimidine on the other strand by hydrogen bonds holding together the two strands much like the rungs of a ladder and that include adenine linked to thymine in DNA or to uracil in RNA and guanine linked to cytosine in both DNA and RNA
variants
or base-pair
base paired or base-paired; base pairing or base-pairing; base pairs or base-pairs
: to participate in formation of a base pair
adenine base-pairs with thymine
Examples of base pair in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
IEEE Spectrum, 2 Oct. 2025
In the mice, the experimental therapy corrected KJ's mutation, replacing the errant A-T base pair with the correct G-C pair in the animals' cells.
—Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 16 May 2025
IEEE Spectrum, 2 Oct. 2025
The human genome holds about three billion base pairs within each cell.
—Bojan Stojkovski, Interesting Engineering, 10 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for base pair
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Noun
The upshot is that there is a sequence of light flashes, at a rate of about three per second, that reveals the sequence of base pairs in the DNA sample.
—IEEE Spectrum, 2 Oct. 2025
In the mice, the experimental therapy corrected KJ's mutation, replacing the errant A-T base pair with the correct G-C pair in the animals' cells.
—Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 16 May 2025
Verb
The upshot is that there is a sequence of light flashes, at a rate of about three per second, that reveals the sequence of base pairs in the DNA sample.
—IEEE Spectrum, 2 Oct. 2025
The human genome holds about three billion base pairs within each cell.
—Bojan Stojkovski, Interesting Engineering, 10 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for base pair
Cite this Entry
“Base pair.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/base%20pair. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
base pair
1 of 2 noun
: one of the pairs of nucleotide bases on complementary strands of nucleic acid that consist of a purine on one strand joined to a pyrimidine on the other strand by hydrogen bonds holding together the two strands much like the rungs of a ladder and that include adenine linked to thymine in DNA or to uracil in RNA and guanine linked to cytosine in both DNA and RNA
base pair
2 of 2 intransitive verb
variants
or base-pair
: to participate in formation of a base pair
adenine base pairs with thymine
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