Nonself
Definition, Meaning & Examples
Part of speech noun
Quick meaning: Nonself is a noun meaning (philosophy, psychology) Any entity other than oneself.
Meaning
(philosophy, psychology) Any entity other than oneself.
More Meanings
- (immunology, uncountable) All agents and substances that are not the body's own.
- (Buddhism) Anatta.
- (immunology) Of nonself origin.
Example Sentences
In plants, the ability to recognize self from nonself plays an important role in fertilization, because self-fertilization will result in less diverse offspring than fertilization with pollen from another individual.
In his classic monograph describing the clonal selection theory of the immune response, Burnet (1959) suggested that the immune system distinguishes between self (no antibody response) and nonself (antibody response).
Word Forms
- nonselfs
- nonselves
Related Words
Related dictionary entries include non-self, unself, nonperson, nonother, nonobjectivist, nonclass.
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Sources & Attribution
FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0
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