noun

• 1Anatomy Zoology
  A small fluid-filled bladder, sac, cyst, or vacuole within the body.

  ‘They are united by the presence of small vesicles in, or just under, the plasma membrane.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘The prevailing model argues that specific proteins are shuttled around to their destinations, both within and outside the cell, in enclosed vesicles.’
  • ‘Both vesicles and bilayer patches were found not to move laterally over the time range of 10 min and more, except at relatively high imaging forces.’
  • ‘The two vesicles resemble small, bulbous pouches and are located just above the prostate gland.’
  • ‘This process allows the vesicles to dock to that part of the membrane where the neurotransmitters are due to be released into the synapse (the active zone).’

  Synonyms

  bag, pouch, bladder, blister

  1. 1.1Medicine A small blister full of clear fluid.
     ‘Chickenpox usually occurs in children, causing slight fever and an eruption of transparent vesicles (blisters).’
     More example sentences

     • ‘Several hours or days following exposure, affected skin in a previously sensitized individual becomes itchy and red and may develop small vesicles or blisters.’
     • ‘In fact, she had beautiful skin apart from the scattered vesicles caused by the chicken pox.’
     • ‘Infected animals excrete virus in exhaled air, in saliva, in milk, in semen, in faeces, in urine and in ruptured vesicle fluid.’
     • ‘Skin infection begins as a raised itchy bump that resembles an insect bite but within one-two days develops into a vesicle and then a painless ulcer.’
     Synonyms

     bleb, bulla, pustule, vesicle, vesication, blain

• 2Botany
  An air-filled swelling in a plant, especially a seaweed.

  ‘Plant vesicle trafficking will serve similar functions to those seen in animals and yeast.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘When resin vesicles are damaged during seed processing, the result is generally a decline in seed germination.’
  • ‘Here we report that this defect formation is strongly enhanced by the membrane tension induced by osmotic swelling of vesicles.’
  • ‘The properties of plasma membrane vesicles from wheat roots are also affected by deprivation of the intact plants.’
  • ‘No significant differences were observed in the composition of vesicles isolated from nitrate-treated and control roots (not shown).’

• 3Geology
  A small cavity in volcanic rock, produced by gas bubbles.

  ‘A variety of minerals were deposited in the hollow vesicles.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Calcite, along with epidote, fills small vesicles in the basaltic dike rock.’
  • ‘In the road cuts of both early and later construction, rock was blasted that contains zeolite-filled vesicles.’
  • ‘In some lavas, rising gas bubbles may stretch out to form tubular vesicles.’
  • ‘The gray bar in the middle of the image represents the virtual projection of spectrometer slit onto the vesicle.’

  Synonyms

  space, chamber, hollow, hole, pocket, pouch