diapause
A temporary pause in the growth and development of an organism due to adverse environmental conditions (especially in insects and in the embryos of many of the oviparous species of fish in the order Cyprinodontiformes)
Related words
- diapausal
- diapaused
- diapausin
- diapausing
- prediapause
- nondiapause
- paradiapause
- postdiapause
Word history
From Ancient Greek "διάπαυσις" (pause, cessation).
Where this comes from
This definition is adapted from “diapause” on Wiktionary, by its contributors, published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.