The difference between Nucleic acid and Nucleoside

When used as nouns, nucleic acid means any acidic, chainlike biological macromolecule consisting of multiply repeat units of phosphoric acid, sugar and purine and pyrimidine bases, whereas nucleoside means an organic molecule in which a nitrogenous heterocyclic base (or nucleobase), which can be either a double-ringed purine or a single-ringed pyrimidine, is covalently attached to a five-carbon pentose sugar (deoxyribose in dna or ribose in rna). when the phosphate group is covalently attached to the pentose sugar, it forms a nucleotide.


check bellow for the other definitions of Nucleic acid and Nucleoside

  1. Nucleic acid as a noun (biochemistry, genetics):

    Any acidic, chainlike biological macromolecule consisting of multiply repeat units of phosphoric acid, sugar and purine and pyrimidine bases; they are involved in the preservation, replication and expression of hereditary information in every living cell

  1. Nucleoside as a noun (biochemistry):

    an organic molecule in which a nitrogenous heterocyclic base (or nucleobase), which can be either a double-ringed purine or a single-ringed pyrimidine, is covalently attached to a five-carbon pentose sugar (deoxyribose in DNA or ribose in RNA). When the phosphate group is covalently attached to the pentose sugar, it forms a nucleotide.