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# diatom

«diatom» in Mova's school dictionary: **A tiny one-celled living thing, a kind of algae, that…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a diatom, diatoms)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A tiny one-celled living thing, a kind of algae, that lives in water and has a glassy shell made of silica. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/diatom/#m1)

2) (science) diatoms make a large part of the oxygen we breathe and are food for many sea animals. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/diatom/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In science and biology lessons diatoms appear in food chains, plankton, microscopes and oxygen; their shells pile up on the sea floor and form diatomaceous earth used in filters and toothpaste; phrases: «diatoms under the microscope», «plankton and diatoms».

### examples

- Under the microscope, the diatom looked like a tiny glass jewel. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/diatom/#x1)
- Diatoms float in oceans, lakes and rivers. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/diatom/#x2)
- Diatoms make oxygen using sunlight, like plants. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/diatom/#x3)
- Small sea creatures eat diatoms. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/diatom/#x4)
- Our class drew different diatom shapes: circles, boats and stars. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/diatom/#x5)
- Old diatom shells pile up on the sea floor over millions of years. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/diatom/#x6)
- Scientists study diatoms to learn how clean a river is. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/diatom/#x7)

### note

Countable: one diatom, many diatoms. Pronounced DIE-a-tom. Too small to see without a microscope. They are not animals and not exactly plants; they are algae (protists).

### In the corpora

- [Diatoms are single-celled algae with glass shells in beautiful patterns, and they make a big share of the oxygen we breathe.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/259-the-microscopic-world-tardigrades-mites-plankton-and-other-tiny-creatures/14/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «diatom» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/diatom/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.