Webster's English Dictionary

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meiosis

mei.o.sis \mi--'o--s*s\ \mi--'a:t-ik\ \-i-k(*-)le-\ n [NL, fr. Gk meio-sis 
   diminution, fr. meioun to diminish, fr. ]meio-n less - more at MINOR : the 
   sequence of complex nuclear changes resulting in the production of c ells 
   (as gametes) with half the number of chromosomes present in the original 
   cell and typically involving first an actual reduction division in which 
   the chromosomes without undergoing prior splitting separate so that of each 
   pair a chromosome from one parent only enters each daughter nucleus and 
   secondly a mitotic division - mei.ot.ic aj