mutualistic

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of mutualistic By comparing interspecies cooperation with communication systems found within species and in other mutualistic relationships, the authors provide a broader framework for understanding how cooperation emerges and persists. — Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 20 June 2026 This suggests that the mutualistic relationship is obligatory for the host but facultative for the endosymbiont (see also coral bleaching). — Encyclopedia Britannica, 18 June 2026 Emily Yeager, the lead author of the study, told USA TODAY in an interview that the symbiotic relationship between remoras and their hosts had been considered either mutualistic, where both species benefit or commensal, where one benefits without affecting the other. — James Powel, USA Today, 14 May 2026 Corals, too, have a mutualistic relationship with some seagrasses. — David George Haskell, Big Think, 27 Mar. 2026 Reciprocity sustains mutualistic exchange. — Scott Hutcheson, Forbes.com, 3 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mutualistic
Adjective
  • Since then, different techniques have been developed to recruit the symbiotic microbe.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 1 Oct. 2026
  • Thus, the relationship between gossip columnists Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper (itself the subject of George Eells’s 1971 dual biography, Hedda and Louella) was at first a symbiotic friendship and then a brutal rivalry.
    — Lindsey Weber, Vanity Fair, 28 Sep. 2026
Adjective
  • This is very useful for a practice called commensal SETI, whereby a SETI instrument piggybacks on a radio telescope's usual day-to-day observations.
    — Keith Cooper, Space.com, 4 Aug. 2026
  • For example, cleaning stations are mutualistic while hitchhiking is commensal.
    — Melissa Cristina Márquez, Forbes.com, 2 Feb. 2026
Adjective
  • The rural economy, largely dependent on farming, is also an important pillar of consumer spending.
    — Priyanka Salve, CNBC, 8 Oct. 2026
  • To your earlier point, so much of modern stardom is dependent on a social following.
    — Matt Donnelly, Variety, 7 Oct. 2026
Adjective
  • Combining certain treatments—like ultrasound and exosome skin boosters—can have a synergistic effect.
    — Anna Haines, Condé Nast Traveler, 21 Sep. 2026
  • The synergistic effect of this is that an opposing offense can't double team both Aaron Donald and Myles Garrett.
    — Ryan Canfield OutKick, FOXNews.com, 4 Sep. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Mutualistic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mutualistic. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.

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