How to Use mutualism in a Sentence

mutualism

noun
  • The new study found that there was a mutualism to the behavior.
    — Eva Botkin-Kowacki, The Christian Science Monitor, 18 Aug. 2020
  • Other living things have evolved to snatch up the rewards of mutualism with none of the costs.
    — Kristin Ohlson, Discover Magazine, 2 Jan. 2019
  • In a display of mutualism underwater, the crustaceans in return clean the sponges and even breed inside them.
    — Scott Travers, Forbes, 14 Dec. 2024
  • In light of this potential, the implicit mutualism is sobering.
    — Literary Hub, 19 Sep. 2025
  • And both fig and fig wasp are utterly reliant on one another to survive—a phenomenon called mutualism.
    — Ali Francis, Bon Appétit, 7 Sep. 2022
  • As expected, the mutualisms had a destabilizing effect on the system.
    — Quanta Magazine, 26 Sep. 2018
  • While mutualism brings benefits to both species, commensalism brings benefits to one species while the other is neither helped nor harmed.
    — Sean Mowbray, Discover Magazine, 25 Oct. 2023
  • Partnerships between ants and trees are classic examples of mutualism in nature---the trees provide room and board for the ant colonies who protect the trees from pests.
    — Breanna Draxler, Discover Magazine, 7 Nov. 2013
  • Anyone who has hiked in a forest may have noted lichens formed from a union of fungi and algae, without realizing that these are prime examples of mutualism.
    — Jerome Groopman, The New Yorker, 5 Dec. 2022
  • That’s an example of mutualism, a term for whenever one animal helps another.
    — Erika Larsen, National Geographic, 1 Oct. 2020
  • Yet mutual aid/mutualism never seems to get as much attention as conflict/competition does.
    — Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 4 Feb. 2025
  • This partnership is an example of mutualism, where both species benefit from the interaction.
    — Jake Parks, Discover Magazine, 3 Feb. 2025
  • This is an example of mutualism, in which animals of different species work together to meet their individual needs.
    — National Geographic, 14 Feb. 2020
  • There’s sort of a little mutualism there between Darwin and Bates, Darwin didn't have the kind of evidence Bates had.
    — Maya Wei-Haas, Smithsonian, 21 Apr. 2017
  • Even when the ants’ self-interest is less immediate, Frederickson doesn’t expect cheating in this kind of mutualism.
    — Kristin Ohlson, Discover Magazine, 2 Jan. 2019
  • Remora fish do indeed have suckers, but the relationship can by characterized as mutualism or symbiosis.
    — Carolyn Hax, Washington Post, 12 Nov. 2023
  • In the biological sense, this is about mutualism over predation—creating value for others so your presence becomes non-negotiable.
    — Scott Hutcheson, Forbes.com, 31 Mar. 2025
  • Functional mismatch in a bumble bee pollination mutualism under climate change.
    — Gwen Pearson, WIRED, 24 Sep. 2015
  • All the while, the solar panels stood quietly by, converting the late afternoon sun into clean energy in a display of mutualism, one that might help spare the future for the kids playing soccer nearby.
    — Bill McKibben, The New Yorker, 6 Sep. 2024
  • This is synergy, mutualism and adaptation awaiting rediscovery on the mainland.
    — The New York Times, NOLA.com, 4 July 2017
  • Power and temptation cause shifts between exploitation and cooperation in a cleaner wrasse mutualism, Proc.
    — Christie Wilcox, Discover Magazine, 24 Apr. 2013
  • Draymond and Golden State are perhaps the best example of mutualism in the basketball world, and both sides should be happy their relationship will continue.
    — Rohan Nadkarni, SI.com, 3 Aug. 2019
  • And mutualism, as symbiotic cooperation is called in biology, is vital to life itself.
    — Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 4 Feb. 2025
  • The study, published online ahead of print for the journal Geology, also provides early evidence for mutualism between plants and animals.
    — Charles P. Pierce, Esquire, 9 Mar. 2018
  • This metabolic mutualism helps trees to survive in all kinds of different environmental conditions and expand their ecological niche.
    — Quanta Magazine, 19 Dec. 2022
  • Symbiotic mutualism emerges out of ecological thinking, out of that systems thinking, instead of classification thinking, which is a more flawed model.
    — Fiction Non Fiction, Literary Hub, 13 Nov. 2025
  • If true, the phenomenon could be considered mutualism, Zduniak says—a reciprocal behavior among species that benefits both parties.
    — Nizamettin Yavuz, National Geographic, 17 Aug. 2017
  • Nevertheless, Coyte doesn’t rule out the possibility of the balanced mutualisms that O’Dwyer and Butler modeled.
    — Quanta Magazine, 26 Sep. 2018
  • But there’s also metabolic mutualism — the acquisition of metabolism through this really intimate partnership between two organisms.
    — Quanta Magazine, 19 Dec. 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'mutualism.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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