parasitism

noun/ˈpærəsɪˌtɪzəm/

Frequency rank: #19,531 of 20,003 in the WORDED list (wordfreq data)

Meaning

a relationship in which one organism lives on or in another and causes it harm while benefiting itself.

Illustration for the English word “parasitism”

Example sentence

The biologist explained that parasitism occurs when one organism benefits at the expense of another.

Synonyms & related words

More words in ranks 19,501–19,600