From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary EnglishRelated topics: Biology, Animalsinvertebratein‧ver‧te‧brate /ɪnˈvɜːtəbrət, -breɪt $ -ɜːr-/ noun [countable]HBa living creature that does not have a backbone → vertebrate► see thesaurus at animal —invertebrate adjectiveExamples from the Corpusinvertebrate• In contrast to boiling it alive, freezing an invertebrate to death is a humane thing to do.• Amateurexperimentalbreeding of Cleaner Shrimps has already been mentioned as a good example of a mobileinvertebrate which could be chosen.