DNA
- 1Initialism of deoxyribonucleic acid.
Forensic teams matched the DNA found at the scene to a suspect.
The virus injects its DNA into the host cell and hijacks its machinery.
Note
Behind the letters stands a chemical name that took time to settle. Martin Kamen in 1948 writes desoxyribosenucleic acid (DNA), and Watson and Crick's 1953 paper on its structure gives deoxyribose nucleic acid (D.N.A.), with stops. The bare capitals won out. The noun is usually uncountable (the DNA of a virus), though the plural DNAs also exists.
- 2An organism's genetic material, the part of it in which its inherited information is stored.
The ancestry test compares your DNA against samples from around the world.
Identical twins share exactly the same DNA.
Note
Everyday speech uses the chemical's name loosely for a person's whole genetic makeup. What an ancestry test compares, or what twins share, is the inherited information rather than the molecule as such. Careful scientific writing means the molecule itself. This broader use belongs to conversation and popular writing.
- 3The fundamental nature or values of a person or organization, especially when seen as inborn and unchangeable.
A restless drive to innovate is written into the firm's DNA.
A love of storytelling runs through the whole family's DNA.
Similarnature, character, makeup, essence, ethos
Note
A metaphor built on the genetic sense and at home in business and institutional prose. It favors possessives and verbs of fixing: in a company's DNA, part of our DNA, hardwired into the DNA of a party. The figure promises something inborn and permanent. Bill McBean's 2012 business book nonetheless speaks of creating a business's DNA, as though it could be designed.
- 4To run a laboratory analysis of the deoxyribonucleic acid in a sample taken from someone.
Investigators DNA every piece of evidence recovered from the scene.
The coroner's office DNA'd the remains to establish their identity.
Note
A verb of investigators and crime writers, used of suspects and evidence alike: to DNA him against a sample, fingerprinting the wrapper and DNAing the gum. Its endings attach straight to the capitals, giving DNAs, DNAing and DNAed. The apostrophe form DNA'd is just as common in print. The passive is natural for the person tested: he has been DNAed.
- 5Used in appointment records to indicate that a person did not attend.
The clinic's system flagged her as DNA when she failed to show.
Any booking left as DNA is reviewed at the end of the day.
- 6Used to indicate that a person did not arrive for a scheduled appointment.
The driver logged the pickup as DNA once the wait time ran out.
Two of this morning's slots ended up marked DNA.
- 7Used on forms to indicate that a particular item does not apply.
Several fields on the application came back marked DNA.
She entered DNA wherever the question had no bearing on her case.
- 8Used to indicate that a person did not answer a call or message.
Half the contacts on the list came back as DNA.
The interviewer recorded the number as DNA after repeated attempts.
Note
An unrelated set of initials that has nothing to do with genes. Here the letters belong to record-keepers, who write them in a log or form field to note a negative: no reply to a call, no one at the appointment, a question that does not apply. Context decides which is meant. A clinic's DNA and a laboratory's DNA share only their spelling.
- 9Used as a warning that one should not assume something is true.
He pinned a large DNA above his desk as a daily check on his own habits.
The checklist opened with a blunt DNA before listing the steps.
- 10A military or police order indicating that a person should not be issued a firearm.
Command placed the soldier on DNA pending a psychiatric evaluation.
Anyone marked DNA must surrender their service weapon at once.
Note
US military shorthand that works as a status as much as an instruction. A soldier is placed on DNA or marked DNA, and can come off it again once weapons are returned. From this flag came the verb to DNA someone. In service talk, therefore, the letters concern firearms rather than genes.
- 11To place someone under an order barring them from being issued a firearm on grounds of mental illness.
The board voted to DNA the recruit following the evaluation.
Medical staff DNA'd two enlisted men that week.
Note
Mostly met in the passive, describing the person on the receiving end. In Jeanne Marie Laskas's To Obama, with Love, Joy, Hate and Despair (2018), a woman "wasn't DNA'd anymore" once she had her weapons back. The verb records a decision made on mental-health grounds. Its past form is spelled DNAed or DNA'd, like the forensic verb.
- 12An initialism for drugs and alcohol, referring to the two together.
The caseworker's notes listed DNA problems, mainly cocaine and heavy drinking, as the reason for the eviction.
The band's early tours were a blur of DNA, and the drummer spent two months in rehab afterward.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
The noun is an initialism of 'deoxyribonucleic acid', and the verb is derived from the noun.
An initialism of various terms, with the verb sense derived from one of the noun senses.