polymorphic

English

Etymology

poly- +‎ -morphic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌpɑliˈmɔɹfɪk/
• Rhymes: -ɔː(r)fɪk

Adjective

polymorphic (not comparable)

1. Relating to polymorphism (any sense), able to have several shapes or forms.
   • 1859, Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species

     I refer to those genera which have sometimes been called "protean" or "polymorphic," in which the species present an inordinate amount of variation; and hardly two naturalists can agree which forms to rank as species and which as varieties.

   • 1897, Grant Allen, An African Millionaire

     Dr. Beddersley came -- a dapper little man, with pent-house eyebrows, and keen, small eyes, whom I suspected at sight of being Colonel Clay himself in another of his clever polymorphic embodiments.

   • 1996, Rod Ellis, Data abstraction and program design:

     Polymorphic redefinition in C++ is achieved by the use of virtual functions.

2. (programming, of a function) Able to take multiple data types for a single parameter.

Synonyms

• (able to have several shapes or forms): multiform, protean; See also Thesaurus:multiform

Antonyms

• monomorphic

Derived terms

• polymorphically

Translations

relating to polymorphism

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 多形型 (duō xíng xíng)

• Finnish: monimuotoinen (fi)
• German: polymorphisch
• Icelandic: fjölbreytinn m, fjölmóta m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Irish: ilchruthach, polamorfach
• Manx: yl-chrooagh
• Portuguese: polimórfico m, polimórfica f
• Turkish: çok biçimli