stem cell

noun

: an unspecialized cell that gives rise to differentiated cells

hematopoietic stem cells in bone marrow

Examples of stem cell in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Because the sheets can be made using a patient’s own stem cells, the risk of rejection drops significantly. —Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 11 Dec. 2025

Ethics of creating organs in other species The worries motivating the NIH ban in 2015 on inserting human stem cells into animal embryos did not come from concerns about scientific failure but rather from moral confusion. —Monika Piotrowska, The Conversation, 8 Dec. 2025

On the right ‘Tract’ The company is focused on stem cell cloning technology, which allows researchers to isolate single cells from samples like tumor biopsies in cases that have failed first- or second-line chemotherapy. —Charlotte Observer, 4 Dec. 2025

These cells, much like stem cells, can form new healthy tissue but in a more targeted way. —New Atlas, 4 Dec. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1896, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for stem cell

• barbell
• bedwell
• befell
• bluebell
• bombshell
• bridewell
• capelle
• cartel
• carvel
• clamshell
• cogswell
• compel

Kids Definition

stem cell

noun

: a simple cell that can become a cell (as a blood cell or skin cell) with a special function

Medical Definition

stem cell

noun

ˈstem- 

: an unspecialized cell capable of perpetuating itself through cell division and having the potential to give rise to differentiated cells with specialized functions

Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent cells derived from the inner cell mass of the blastocyst stage of the embryo.

—Carrie J. Merkle, in Essentials of Pathophysiology

… picture the bone marrow as a blood cell factory that takes a single type of precursor cell, or stem cell, and modifies it in various ways to produce all the cells that circulate in the blood.

—Gina Kolata, Discover

Recent observations are providing increasing evidence for the concept that adult stem cells are part of a natural system for tissue repair.

—Darwin J. Prockop, in Essentials of Stem Cell Biology