# abiosis
## English
### Etymology

From a- +‎ bio- +‎ -osis; from Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-, “not, without, opposite of”), βίος (bíos, “life”), and -ωσις (-ōsis, “action, process, condition”).

### Pronunciation

* (US) IPA: /ˌeɪ.baɪˈoʊ.sɪs/, /ˌæb.iˈoʊ.sɪs/
* Audio (Canada):(file)
* Rhymes: -əʊsɪs

### Noun

abiosis (countable and uncountable, plural abioses)
* (uncountable) The absence of life.
** 2001, Claudio Delfini, Joseph V. Formica, Wine Microbiology: Science and Technology, page 119:In fact, more than just the total elimination of bacteria by filtration, the aim should also be stabilization by abiosis (page 119), with the implication of reducing the contaminating cell load as much as possible.
** 2006, L. E. Modesitt, Jr., The Eternity Artifact, page 9:At times, every professor believes that his classroom represents the abnegation of intelligence, if not absolute abiosis.
** 2010, Stanley N. Salthe, Evolving Hierarchical Systems, page 302:PRIMARY SUCCESSION: In the present work, the long-term changes accompanying the gradual development of ecosystems in some geographical region, starting from a condition of abiosis.
** 2012, P.D. Armitage, L.C. Pinder, P.S. Cranston, The Chironomidae: Biology and ecology of non-biting midges, page 8:The rapid onset of Japanese industrialization in the absence of environmental safeguards led to eutrophication, anoxia and frequent abiosis of urban and peri-urban waters.
* The temporary cessation of biological processes.
** 1900, Merck's Annual Report of Recent Advances in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Therapeutics:The symptoms of intoxication may differ in both cases considerably, e.g. they may be attended by deep unconsciousness and abiosis, and also by violent convulsions.
** 1958, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. Health and Safety Laboratory, Environmental Contamination from Weapon Tests, page 178:Briefly draws attention to deviations from reciprocity and to the partial reversibility of many radiation induced phenomena, to the possible use of organisms in a state of abiosis as integral dose-indicators, to certain specially radiosensitive organisms and responses, and to questions of threshold.
** 1970, Radiobiology - Volume 10, Issues 4-6, page 8:The animals of the first group were left in a state of an abiosis at a temperature of + 4 ° after irradiation.
** 2019, Ralph O. Schill, Water Bears: The Biology of Tardigrades, page 6:Besides α-taxonomy, which started, albeit with a certain delay, soon after the first discovery of tardigrades and which continues unabatedly, tardigrade research was dominated almost from the beginning by two topics, i.e. (1) anabiosis or abiosis or, the more modern term, cryptobiosis and here especially anhydrobiosis (the ability many tardigrades share with other organisms such as the metazoan taxa rotifers and nematodes, in which this phenomenon was detected earlier than in tardigrades) and (2) possible relationships to other organims;
* Necrosis, especially that which occurs at the single cell level.
** 1914 February, E.B. Morley, “Epidermolysis Bullosa Hereditaria”, in The British Journal of Dermatology and Syphilis, volume 26, page 42:Finally, here is an example of hereditary defect at the outset in some tissue or group of tissues, which may be compared in its ultimate nature with the human jerry-buildings or so-called abioses such as Friedreich's syndrome, achondroplasia, or the muscular dystrophies.
** 1967, Richard Lawrence McCandless, Light Transmission by the Ocular Media of Rainbow Trout, page 5:Abiosis is prominent in the 210 - 296 mμ range, though. It seems impossible that ultraviolet light could kill bacteria living in other tissues , but this effect is probably very limited for the eye .
** 2018, Hans-Robert Metelmann, Thomas von Woedtke, Klaus-Dieter Weltmann, Comprehensive Clinical Plasma Medicine, page 95:If disturbed, deleterious changes to the code, and accordingly to the gene products (proteins), may occur resulting in mutations or even abiosis.

#### Synonyms

* (absence of life): sterility
* (temporary cessation of biological processes): suspended animation, cryptobiosis
* (necrosis): abiotrophy

#### Antonyms

* (all senses): biosis (dated)

#### Related terms

* abiotic
* antibiosis

#### Translations
### References

* Thomas, Clayton L., editor (1940), Taber's Encyclopedic Medical Dictionary, 5th edition, Philadelphia, PA: F. A. Davis Company, published 1993, →ISBN, page 6