enzyme
part of speech
noun (an enzyme, enzymes)
meaning for a pupil
An enzyme is a substance made by living things that speeds up chemical changes, for example breaking down food in your stomach. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science, digestive enzymes in saliva and the stomach break food into small pieces the body can use. Biological washing powders use enzymes to remove stains. Enzymes work best at certain temperatures; too much heat stops them working.
examples
- Enzymes in your saliva start to digest bread. tree →
- Biological washing powder has enzymes that eat stains. tree →
- Each enzyme does one special job. tree →
- Heat can stop an enzyme from working. tree →
- Enzymes help turn milk into cheese. tree →
- Pineapple has an enzyme that can make your tongue tingle. tree →
note
Use «an»: an enzyme. Enzymes are not alive themselves; they are chemicals made by living cells.
In the corpora
- Lactose-free milk has the enzyme added, which breaks the milk sugar into simpler sugars that taste sweeter.
- Cutting opened the apple's cells, so air reached their chemicals, and an enzyme helped them react with oxygen.
- A squeeze of lemon slows it, because the acid stops the enzyme working well.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «enzyme» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.