It is made up of more than one cell.
It has a well-defined shape and limited growth.
It can move voluntarily.
It can get its own food and digest it within itself.
It has sensory and nervous systems that allow it to react to its environment.

This definition includes human beings. Outside of scientific usage, animal is used in several ways.Most commonly, an animal is a living being that meets the above requirements but is not a human being.An animal can be just a mammal, that is, an animal that has fur, gives birth, and produces milk. A dog is a mammal, for example, while a fish is not.Animal is also used to describe something that is related to or comes from an animal, such as animal fats (fats that come from an animal) or animal behavior, which is often separate from human behavior.Example: Scientists have discovered a new group of animals that live in the extreme depths of the Great Barrier Reef.","type":"usage-wordpress"}],"ordinal":1,"origin":{"id":"5568070d000000027c002628","source":"dcom","text":"First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English (from Old French ), from Latin, noun derivative (with loss of final vowel and shortening of ā ) of animāle, neuter of animālis “living, animate,” equivalent to anim(a) “air, breath” + -ālis; English adjective also directly from Latin animālis; -al ¹;","type":"origin"},"partOfSpeechBlocks":[{"definitions":[{"id":"5568070d000000027c002603","ordinal":1,"source":"random-house","tags":[{"tag":"Botanical and Indigenous Lore","type":"category"}],"text":"any member of the kingdom Animalia, comprising multicellular organisms that have a well-defined shape and usually limited growth, can move voluntarily, actively acquire food and digest it internally, and have sensory and nervous systems that allow them to respond rapidly to stimuli: some classification schemes also include protozoa and certain other single-celled eukaryotes that have motility and animallike nutritional modes."},{"id":"5568070d000000027c002607","ordinal":2,"source":"random-house","tags":[{"tag":"Botanical and Indigenous Lore","type":"category"}],"text":"any such living thing other than a human being."},{"id":"5568070d000000027c00260b","ordinal":3,"source":"random-house","tags":[{"tag":"Botanical and Indigenous Lore","type":"category"}],"text":"a mammal, as opposed to a fish, bird, etc."},{"crossReferences":[{"targetEntry":{"headword":"animality","id":"5568070d000000027c0027d8","slug":"animality"}}],"examples":[{"sentence":"the animal in every person."}],"id":"5568070d000000027c00260f","ordinal":4,"source":"random-house","text":"the physical, sensual, or carnal nature of human beings; animality."},{"examples":[{"sentence":"She married an animal."}],"id":"5568070d000000027c002616","ordinal":5,"source":"random-house","synonyms":[{"entry":{"headword":"monster","slug":"monster"}}],"text":"an inhuman person; brutish or beastlike person."},{"examples":[{"sentence":"A perfect job? Is there any such animal?"}],"id":"5568070d000000027c002619","ordinal":6,"source":"random-house","text":"thing."}],"id":"5568070d000000027c002600","ordinal":1,"partOfSpeech":"noun"},{"definitions":[{"examples":[{"sentence":"animal instincts; animal fats."}],"id":"5568070d000000027c00261f","ordinal":1,"source":"random-house","tags":[{"tag":"Botanical and Indigenous Lore","type":"category"}],"text":"of, relating to, or derived from animals."},{"examples":[{"sentence":"animal needs."}],"id":"5568070d000000027c002624","ordinal":2,"source":"random-house","synonyms":[{"entry":{"headword":"brutal","slug":"brutal"}},{"entry":{"headword":"beastly","slug":"beastly"}},{"entry":{"headword":"physical","slug":"physical"}},{"entry":{"headword":"fleshly","slug":"fleshly"}}],"text":"pertaining to the physical, sensual, or carnal nature of humans, rather than their spiritual or intellectual nature."}],"id":"5568070d000000027c00261c","ordinal":2,"partOfSpeech":"adjective"}],"pronunciationSets":[{"id":"5568070d000000027c0025f8","lang":"en","ordinal":1,"pronunciations":[{"audio":{"flac":"A04/A0489900/A0489900.flac","mpeg":"A04/A0489900/A0489900.mp3","ogg":"A04/A0489900/A0489900.ogg","wav":"A04/A0489900/A0489900.wav"},"id":"5568070d000000027c0025f9","ipa":{"text":"ˈæn ə məl"},"phonetic":{"boldIndices":[0,1],"html":"an-uh-muhl","italicIndices":[3,4,7,8],"text":"an-uh-muhl"}}],"region":"us"}],"slug":"animal","source":"dcom","type":"dcom"}],"type":"dcom"},{"entries":[{"createDate":"2012-01-01T00:00:41Z","headword":{"normalizedForm":"animal","standardForm":"animal"},"id":"4effa2298f0d7c8ede00a08c","lang":"en","modifyDate":"2012-01-01T00:00:41Z","ngrams":{"allLetters":true,"forward":"animal","groups":["a","aa","i","l","m","n"],"numLetters":6,"reverse":"lamina","subwordTokens":["animal","nimal","imal","mal","al","l"]},"normalizedLetter":"a","ordinal":1,"partOfSpeechBlocks":[{"definitions":[{"id":"4ce705b7e13d6a428f136315","ordinal":1,"text":"Any of the multicellular organisms belonging to the kingdom Animalia. All animals are eukaryotes, with each of their cells having a nucleus containing DNA. Most animals develop from a blastula and have a digestive tract, nervous system, the ability to move voluntarily, and specialized sensory organs for recognizing and responding to stimuli in the environment. Animals are heterotrophs, feeding on plants, other animals, or organic matter. The first animals probably evolved from protists and appeared during the Precambrian Era."}],"ordinal":1}],"pronunciationSets":[{"pronunciations":[{"ipa":{"text":"ăn′ə-məl"}}]}],"slug":"animal","source":"american-heritage","type":"science"}],"type":"science"},{"entries":[{"createDate":"2010-10-09T00:23:07Z","headword":{"normalizedForm":"animal","standardForm":"animal"},"id":"4cafb5ebbe58c5294fdd4120","lang":"en","modifyDate":"2010-10-09T00:23:07Z","ngrams":{"allLetters":true,"forward":"animal","groups":["a","aa","i","l","m","n"],"numLetters":6,"reverse":"lamina","subwordTokens":["animal","nimal","imal","mal","al","l"]},"normalizedLetter":"a","ordinal":1,"origin":{"source":"collins","text":"C14: from Latin animal (n), from animālis (adj) living, breathing; see _anima","type":"etymology"},"partOfSpeechBlocks":[{"definitions":[{"id":"4c2c52ef69624332efcb1e63","ordinal":1,"tags":[{"tag":"Science_and_Technology:Life_Sciences_and_Allied_Applications:Zoology","type":"subject-field"}],"text":"zoology any living organism characterized by voluntary movement, the possession of cells with noncellulose cell walls and specialized sense organs enabling rapid response to stimuli, and the ingestion of complex organic substances such as plants and other animals"},{"id":"4c448a4b581a35acaa6a8e60","ordinal":2,"tags":[{"tag":"General:General_Language:General_Language_Term","type":"subject-field"}],"text":"any mammal, esp any mammal except man"},{"id":"4ccd87681302d5f241539531","ordinal":3,"tags":[{"tag":"General:General_Language:General_Language_Term","type":"subject-field"}],"text":"a brutish person"},{"id":"4cefdfe54e9ab2f1a03aea40","label":"facetious","ordinal":4,"tags":[{"tag":"General:General_Language:General_Language_Term","type":"subject-field"}],"text":"a person or thing (esp in the phrase no such animal )"},{"id":"4cbe296db9fc09de7d4e8bf2","label":"informal","ordinal":5,"tags":[{"tag":"Science_and_Technology:Engineering:Automotive_Engineering","type":"subject-field"}],"text":"a very dirty car"}],"ordinal":1,"partOfSpeech":"noun"},{"definitions":[{"examples":[{"sentence":"animal products"},{"sentence":"an animal characteristic"}],"id":"4c869ef97244f80923e3af24","ordinal":1,"tags":[{"tag":"Science_and_Technology:Life_Sciences_and_Allied_Applications:Animals","type":"subject-field"}],"text":"of, relating to, or derived from animals"},{"id":"4cdc0e0c6630a5fc26eee907","ordinal":2,"tags":[{"tag":"General:General_Language:General_Language_Term","type":"subject-field"}],"text":"of or relating to the physical needs or desires; carnal; sensual"}],"ordinal":2,"partOfSpeech":"adjective"}],"pronunciationSets":[{"ordinal":1,"pronunciations":[{"ipa":{"text":"ˈænɪməl"}}]}],"slug":"animal","source":"collins","type":"british"}],"type":"british"}],"meta":{"arg":"animal","requestId":"M6RT3x5fvS44Z_OJJCyJM","requestStatus":"fulfilled"}},{"type":"fetchSpellSuggestions/fulfilled","payload":{"data":{"lunaWithSlug":[{"displayForm":"animal","slug":"animal"},{"displayForm":"animal","slug":"animal"},{"displayForm":"animal","slug":"animal"},{"displayForm":"Animalia","slug":"animalia"},{"displayForm":"minimal","slug":"minimal"},{"displayForm":"Ar Rimal","slug":"ar-rimal"},{"displayForm":"Ar Rimal","slug":"ar-rimal"},{"displayForm":"animally","slug":"animally"},{"displayForm":"ˈminimal","slug":"minimal"},{"displayForm":"decimal","slug":"decimal"}],"tunaWithSlug":[{"displayForm":"animal","slug":"animal"},{"displayForm":"Animalia","slug":"animalia"},{"displayForm":"animals","slug":"animals"},{"displayForm":"minimal","slug":"minimal"},{"displayForm":"anima","slug":"anima"},{"displayForm":"primal","slug":"primal"},{"displayForm":"animate","slug":"animate"},{"displayForm":"decimal","slug":"decimal"},{"displayForm":"maximal","slug":"maximal"},{"displayForm":"optimal","slug":"optimal"}]}},"meta":{"arg":{"word":"Animal"},"requestId":"d4B3NN3aVOjNiNePuVlkg","requestStatus":"fulfilled"}}]},"actionData":null,"errors":null}

animal

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