extremophile

Definition

Any of many organisms that live under extreme conditions of temperature, pressure, salinity, etc; many are autotrophs; some are commercially important as a source of enzymes that operate under similar conditions.

Etymology

From extreme + -o- + -phile.

Example Sentences

• "They had found the world's first extremophiles – organisms that could live in water that had previously been assumed to be much too hot or acid or choked with sulphur to bear life."
• "Lichens are 'extremophiles', organisms able to live, from our point of view, in other worlds."