From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishembryoem‧bry‧o /ˈembriəʊ $ -brioʊ/ noun (plural embryos) [countable] 1 MBan animal or human that has not yet been born, and has just begun to develop → foetus2 → in embryo
Examples from the Corpus
embryo• In fact, the remaining cell did produce only half an embryo, so it seemed that Weismann was right again.• This appears very early in development, when it is involved in compaction of the eight cell embryo and cell polarisation.• Now that scientists have access to human embryos, the question of genetic engineering arises.• The government has banned all scientific research using human embryos.• Wherever possible such parameters should be compared with those of embryos of the same age recovered in vivo.• When first formed, the embryo is only half a millimetre long.• This would explain why they are less able to support development in the embryos that are derived from them.• This problem is also seen with embryos produced by other technologies that require embryos to be cultured in test tubes before implantation.Origin embryo (1300-1400) Medieval Latin Greek embryon, from bryein “to swell” 