foram

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for·am

 (fôr′əm, fŏr′-)
n.
A foraminifer.

[Short for foraminifer.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

foram

(ˈɔːræm)
n
(Animals) another name for foraminifer
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

for•a•min•i•fer

(ˌfɔr əˈmɪn ə fər, ˌfɒr-)

n.
any chiefly marine protozoan of the order Foraminifera, typically having a linear, spiral, or concentric shell perforated by small holes or pores through which pseudopodia extend.
[1835–45; < New Latin Foraminifera < Latin foramen]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.foram - marine microorganism having a calcareous shell with openings where pseudopods protrudeforam - marine microorganism having a calcareous shell with openings where pseudopods protrude
rhizopod, rhizopodan - protozoa characterized by a pseudopod
globigerina - marine protozoan having a rounded shell with spiny processes
nummulite - large fossil protozoan of the Tertiary period
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
References in periodicals archive ?
Bernhard and Edgcomb suspected that another organism may have played a decisive role: foraminifera, or "forams" as scientists often call them.
It is medium to thick-bedded with local brecciated horizons and fossiliferous with predominance of planktonic forams while other bioclasts include echinoderms, ostracodes and algae.
The study, published in the September issue of the Journal of the Geological Society, found that increasing CO2 levels caused foram diversity to fall from 24 species to only 4.'Previous studies have shown a reduction in diversity of 30%, but this is even bigger for forams', said Dr Jason Hall-Spencer, one of the study's co-authors.