Nonmetabolized

Part of speech: adjective, verb (past participle)

Definitions

1. Characterizing substances that are not broken down or transformed by metabolic processes in an organism's body
2. Referring to compounds that remain unchanged and are not utilized for energy or biochemical reactions in living organisms
3. Describing materials that resist metabolism and do not undergo chemical conversion within biological systems

Etymology: "Nonmetabolized" is a straightforward compound: the prefix "non-" (from Latin "non", "not") attached to "metabolized," the past participle of "metabolize." The base verb comes from "metabolism," which traces to Greek "metabolē," meaning "change" or "transformation," formed from "meta-" ("beyond, across") and "ballein" ("to throw"). In biology, metabolism names the sum of chemical changes by which living things convert food into energy and building material, so "metabolized" describes a substance that has been processed through those reactions. The prefix does the work here. Adding "non-" simply reverses the sense, so a nonmetabolized compound is one that the body takes in but does not break down or convert. Pharmacologists use the term routinely for drugs that pass through the body largely unchanged and are excreted in their original form.

Synonyms: unmetabolized, unprocessed, unassimilated, unabsorbed, unconverted

Antonyms: metabolized, processed, assimilated, absorbed, converted