In vitro (Latin for (with)in glass) means within a test tube, or just outside a living organism (a cell). An example is In Vitro Fertilization. The opposite of in vitro is in vivo, within a cell. As many experiments that deal with molecular biology are conducted outside of cells, and the conditions do not necessarily represent the conditions inside the cell, results are often annotated with in vivo or in vitro.
... it did not always have inherently negative implications, it merely designated anyone who assumed power for any period of time without a legitimate basis of ...