noun
- a word, line, verse, number, sentence, etc., reading the same backward as forward, as Madam, I’m Adam or Poor Dan is in a droop.
- Biochemistry. a region of DNA in which the sequence of nucleotides is identical with an inverted sequence in the complementary strand: GAATTC is a palindrome of CTTAAG.
noun
- a word or phrase the letters of which, when taken in reverse order, give the same word or phrase, such as able was I ere I saw Elba
n.“line that reads the same backward and forward,” 1620s, from Greek palindromos “a recurrence,” literally “a running back,” from palin “again, back” (from PIE root *kwel- “move round,” with notion of “revolving; see cycle (n.)) + dromos “a running” (see dromedary). Related: Palindromic. n.
- A segment of double-stranded DNA in which the nucleotide sequence of one strand reads in reverse order to that of the complementary strand.