1. Metabolic reactions in which molecules are linked together to form more complex compounds.

Starch, glycogen, fats, and proteins are all products of anabolic pathways.

2. The building up of the body's substance or the constructive phase of metabolism by which a cell takes from the blood the substance required for repair and growth, building it into a cytoplasm; thus, converting a nonliving material into the living cytoplasm of the cell.

Anabolism is the opposite of catabolism, the destructive phase of metabolism.