slime mold
noun
: any of a group (such as Myxomycetes) of organisms formerly held to be lower fungi but now often considered protists that exist vegetatively in usually moist habitats as mobile plasmodia and reproduce by spores
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web After all, the U.K.-based photographer is looking for something others might struggle to see: slime mold growths that only stand around a tenth of an inch high. 
Leslie Nemo, Scientific American, 6 Jan. 2022 Kees Weijer of the University of Dundee in Scotland, who studies the migration of cells in chick embryos and slime mold, has been waiting for a light sheet microscope since the EMBL group first publicized its advances. Veronique Greenwood, Scientific American, 1 Sep. 2010 Despite lacking a brain or nervous system, slime mold can navigate a maze or recall the location of food. Rachael Lallensack, Smithsonian Magazine, 29 Dec. 2021 The find sparked Webb to document more of the ephemeral slime mold growths. Leslie Nemo, Scientific American, 6 Jan. 2022 Likewise, slime mold tubes that find food grow and dead ends wither away. Rachael Lallensack, Smithsonian Magazine, 29 Dec. 2021 The study’s main finding emerged from simply watching a bright yellow slime mold named Physarum polycephalum do its thing under a microscope. Alex Fox, Smithsonian Magazine, 25 Feb. 2021 Hundreds of thousands of French kids will follow the slime mold’s growth and compare it to organisms Dussutour has sent to their classrooms. Max G. Levy, Wired, 9 Aug. 2021 The spores are then dispersed to create new dog slime mold patches. Tim Johnson, chicagotribune.com, 25 July 2021 See More
Leslie Nemo, Scientific American, 6 Jan. 2022 Kees Weijer of the University of Dundee in Scotland, who studies the migration of cells in chick embryos and slime mold, has been waiting for a light sheet microscope since the EMBL group first publicized its advances. Veronique Greenwood, Scientific American, 1 Sep. 2010 Despite lacking a brain or nervous system, slime mold can navigate a maze or recall the location of food. Rachael Lallensack, Smithsonian Magazine, 29 Dec. 2021 The find sparked Webb to document more of the ephemeral slime mold growths. Leslie Nemo, Scientific American, 6 Jan. 2022 Likewise, slime mold tubes that find food grow and dead ends wither away. Rachael Lallensack, Smithsonian Magazine, 29 Dec. 2021 The study’s main finding emerged from simply watching a bright yellow slime mold named Physarum polycephalum do its thing under a microscope. Alex Fox, Smithsonian Magazine, 25 Feb. 2021 Hundreds of thousands of French kids will follow the slime mold’s growth and compare it to organisms Dussutour has sent to their classrooms. Max G. Levy, Wired, 9 Aug. 2021 The spores are then dispersed to create new dog slime mold patches. Tim Johnson, chicagotribune.com, 25 July 2021 See More Word History
First Known Use
1880, in the meaning defined above
Medical Definition
slime mold
noun
: any organism of the group Myxomycetes
called also myxomycete