• A stretch of repetitive nucleotide sequences (TTAGGG repeats in humans) found at both ends of each chromatid arm that plays a role in chromosome stability during replication.
  NCI Thesaurus
  U.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021
• A terminal section of a chromosome which has a specialized structure and which is involved in chromosomal replication and stability. Its length is believed to be a few hundred base pairs.
  NLM Medical Subject Headings
  U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2021
• Specialized DNA-protein structures found at the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes with the function of stabilizing chromosomes; telomerase is the RNA-dependent DNA polymerase responsible for the synthesis of telomere DNA.
  CRISP Thesaurus
  National Institutes of Health, 2006
• The ends of a chromosome. Each time a cell divides, the telomeres lose a small amount of DNA and become shorter. Over time, the chromosomes become damaged and the cells die. In cancer cells the telomeres do not get shorter, and may become longer, as the cells divide.
  NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms
  U.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021