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enzyme

American  
[en-zahym] / ˈɛn zaɪm /

noun

Biochemistry.

  1. any of various proteins, as pepsin, originating from living cells and capable of producing certain chemical changes in organic substances by catalytic action, as in digestion.

enzyme British  
/ ɛnˈzaɪmɪk, ˈɛnzaɪm, ˌɛnzaɪˈmætɪk, -zɪ-, -ˈzɪm- /

noun

  1. any of a group of complex proteins or conjugated proteins that are produced by living cells and act as catalysts in specific biochemical reactions

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
enzyme Scientific  
/ ĕn′zīm /

  1. Any of numerous proteins produced in living cells that accelerate or catalyze the metabolic processes of an organism. Enzymes are usually very selective in the molecules that they act upon, called substrates, often reacting with only a single substrate. The substrate binds to the enzyme at a location called the active site just before the reaction catalyzed by the enzyme takes place. Enzymes can speed up chemical reactions by up to a millionfold, but only function within a narrow temperature and pH range, outside of which they can lose their structure and become denatured. Enzymes are involved in such processes as the breaking down of the large protein, starch, and fat molecules in food into smaller molecules during digestion, the joining together of nucleotides into strands of DNA, and the addition of a phosphate group to ADP to form ATP. The names of enzymes usually end in the suffix –ase.

enzyme Cultural  

  1. A protein molecule that helps other organic molecules (see also organic molecule) enter into chemical reactions with one another but is itself unaffected by these reactions. In other words, enzymes act as catalysts for organic biochemical reactions.

Other Word Forms

  • enzymatic adjective

Etymology

Origin of enzyme

First recorded in 1880–85; from Medieval Greek énzymos “leavened,” from Greek en- en- 2 + zȳ́m(ē) “leaven” + -os, adjective suffix

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

This enzyme controls the final step in the production of hydrochloric acid in the stomach.

From Science Daily

While both drugs target the HIV-1 reverse transcriptase enzyme to prevent viral replication, they do so through entirely different biochemical pathways.

From Barron's

"On the other hand, they produce unique enzymes and antimicrobial compounds that could inspire new antibiotics, industrial enzymes, and other biotechnological innovations."

From Science Daily

Several years ago, the research team discovered that exercising mice produced higher levels of an enzyme called GPLD1 in their livers.

From Science Daily

First, B. thetaiotaomicron produces enzymes that remove sulfate groups attached to mucin.

From Science Daily

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.