microtome
noun
mi·cro·tome
ˈmī-krə-ˌtōm 
: an instrument for cutting sections (as of biological tissues) for microscopic examination
Examples of microtome in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Researchers use a special tool called a microtome to cut sections from a brain preserved in paraffin wax.
—
Becky Lang, Discover Magazine, 20 June 2013
Embryonic tissue was too delicate to withstand pressure from the clasp of a microtome.
—Benjamin Ehrlich, Scientific American, 21 Mar. 2022
As a journalist and novelist, Tom Wolfe could, like no one else, take one particular broad subject — class and status — and slice it thin for examination and diagnosis, like a pathologist with a microtome.
—Christopher Bonanos, Daily Intelligencer, 15 May 2018
Then, using a special instrument, a microtome, the technician would slice the paraffin block into ultrathin sections, about 0.0002 inches thick.
—Lynne Parenti, Smithsonian, 14 Mar. 2018
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Becky Lang, Discover Magazine, 20 June 2013
Embryonic tissue was too delicate to withstand pressure from the clasp of a microtome.
—Benjamin Ehrlich, Scientific American, 21 Mar. 2022
As a journalist and novelist, Tom Wolfe could, like no one else, take one particular broad subject — class and status — and slice it thin for examination and diagnosis, like a pathologist with a microtome.
—Christopher Bonanos, Daily Intelligencer, 15 May 2018
Then, using a special instrument, a microtome, the technician would slice the paraffin block into ultrathin sections, about 0.0002 inches thick.
—Lynne Parenti, Smithsonian, 14 Mar. 2018
Cite this Entry
“Microtome.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/microtome. Accessed 14 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
microtome
1 of 2 noun
mi·cro·tome
ˈmī-krə-ˌtōm
: an instrument for cutting sections (as of organic tissues) for microscopic examination
bone-sectioning microtomes
microtome
2 of 2 transitive verb
microtomed; microtoming
: to cut in sections with a microtome
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