clone

Everyday

1. A living thing that is an exact copy of another, with the same genes, made naturally or by scientists. tree →
2. (verb) To make such a copy. tree →
3. (informal) Something or someone that is very like another: a cheap clone of a famous game. tree →
4. (computing) To make an exact copy of a disk, phone or code project. tree →

In the lessons

In science lessons, Dolly the sheep was the first mammal cloned from an adult cell; gardeners make clones when they take cuttings, and identical twins are natural clones. In everyday talk, clone means copy. In online safety, criminals may clone a phone or bank card. Phrases: Dolly the sheep, clone a project.

Examples

• Dolly the sheep was a clone. tree →
• A cutting from a plant grows into a clone of the parent. tree →
• Identical twins are a bit like natural clones. tree →
• Scientists cloned a mouse in a laboratory. tree →
• This game is a clone of a famous one. tree →
• We cloned the code from the website. tree →
• Criminals cloned his bank card, so he called the bank. tree →

Note

Regular verb: cloned. A clone has the same genes but is not the same person: it has its own memories and life. Cloning people is not allowed in most countries.