BACTERIUM

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does bacterium mean? 

• BACTERIUM (noun)
  The noun BACTERIUM has 1 sense:

1. (microbiology) single-celled or noncellular spherical or spiral or rod-shaped organisms lacking chlorophyll that reproduce by fission; important as pathogens and for biochemical properties; taxonomy is difficult; often considered to be plants

  Familiarity information: BACTERIUM used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BACTERIUM (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(microbiology) single-celled or noncellular spherical or spiral or rod-shaped organisms lacking chlorophyll that reproduce by fission; important as pathogens and for biochemical properties; taxonomy is difficult; often considered to be plants

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

bacteria; bacterium

Hypernyms ("bacterium" is a kind of...):

micro-organism; microorganism (any organism of microscopic size)

Domain category:

microbiology (the branch of biology that studies microorganisms and their effects on humans)

Domain member category:

immune reaction; immune response; immunologic response (a bodily defense reaction that recognizes an invading substance (an antigen: such as a virus or fungus or bacteria or transplanted organ) and produces antibodies specific against that antigen)

Gram-positive ((of bacteria) being or relating to a bacterium that retains the violet stain used in Gram's method)

peritrichous (covered all over with uniformly distributed flagella)

Gram-negative ((of bacteria) being of or relating to a bacterium that does not retain the violet stain used in Gram's method)

microphage (a neutrophil that ingests small things (as bacteria))

resistance (the degree of unresponsiveness of a disease-causing microorganism to antibiotics or other drugs (as in penicillin-resistant bacteria))

bioremediation (the act of treating waste or pollutants by the use of microorganisms (as bacteria) that can break down the undesirable substances)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bacterium"):

acidophil; acidophile (an organism that thrives in a relatively acid environment)

probiotic; probiotic bacterium; probiotic flora; probiotic microflora (a beneficial bacterium found in the intestinal tract of healthy mammals; often considered to be a plant)

bacteroid (a rodlike bacterium (especially any of the rod-shaped or branched bacteria in the root nodules of nitrogen-fixing plants))

eubacteria; eubacterium; true bacteria (a large group of bacteria having rigid cell walls; motile types have flagella)

Calymmatobacterium; genus Calymmatobacterium (a genus of bacterial rods containing only the one species that causes granuloma inguinale)

Francisella; genus Francisella (a genus of Gram-negative aerobic bacteria that occur as pathogens and parasite in many animals (including humans))

gonococcus; Neisseria gonorrhoeae (the pus-producing bacterium that causes gonorrhea)

legionella; Legionella pneumophilia (the motile aerobic rod-shaped Gram-negative bacterium that thrives in central heating and air conditioning systems and can cause Legionnaires' disease)

nitrobacterium (any of the bacteria in the soil that take part in the nitrogen cycle; they oxidize ammonium compounds into nitrites or oxidize nitrites into nitrates)

penicillin-resistant bacteria (bacteria that are unaffected by penicillin)

pus-forming bacteria (bacteria that produce pus)

rod (any rod-shaped bacterium)

diplococcus (Gram-positive bacteria usually occurring in pairs)

superbug (a strain of bacteria that is resistant to all antibiotics)

Derivation:

bacterial (relating to or caused by bacteria)

bacterioidal (resembling bacteria)

bacterise; bacterize (subject to the action of bacteria)

 Context examples 

This bacteria is motile by a single polar flagellum, oxidase and catalase positive, chemoorganotrophic, gelatinase positive and can grow on L tryptophan culture.

(Acidovorax facilis, NCI Thesaurus)

This bacteria is motile by a single polar flagellum, oxidase positive, chemoorganotrophic, is resistant to penicillin and can grow in D fucose culture.

(Acidovorax delafieldii, NCI Thesaurus)

This bacteria is non motile, catalase and oxidase negative, does not reduce nitrate and does not ferment glucose.

(Acidaminococcus fermentans, NCI Thesaurus)

This bacteria is motile by a single polar flagellum, oxidase positive, chemoorganotrophic, resistant to penicillin and can reduce nitrites.

(Acidovorax temperans, NCI Thesaurus)

A species of anaerobic, Gram negative, cocci shaped bacteria in the phylum Firmicutes.

(Megasphaera elsdenii, NCI Thesaurus)

It usually starts with bacteria that cause a cold-like infection.

(Meningitis, NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)

It may also be caused by infection with a bacterium, virus, or fungus.

(Meningeal syndrome, NCI Dictionary)

A genus of anaerobic, Gram negative, coccobacilli shaped bacterium assigned to the phylum Firmicutes and the family Veillonellaceae.

(Acidaminococcus, NCI Thesaurus)

This bacteria is motile by flagella, urease negative, oxidase and catalase positive, ferments glucose, and hydrolyzes esculin.

(Achromobacter xylosoxidans, NCI Thesaurus)

Any bacteria that is not assigned to the species level but can be assigned to the Achromobacter genus level.

(Achromobacter, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)