MICROBE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does microbe mean? 

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

1. a minute life form (especially a disease-causing bacterium); the term is not in technical use

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

 Dictionary entry details 

• MICROBE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A minute life form (especially a disease-causing bacterium); the term is not in technical use

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

bug; germ; microbe

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

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

Derivation:

microbial (of or involving or caused by or being microbes)

 Context examples 

The growing of microbes in test tube or petri dish type environments

(Culturing, In Vitro Microbial, NCI Thesaurus)

They found that rock type is a good predictor of which microbe species grow on tombstones.

(Tales from the crypt: Life after death in a graveyard, National Science Foundation)

I mean to tell you that I am not suffering from the microbe of socialism.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

This complement system consists of three separate activation triggers: (1) Ab binding to a cell surface, (2) formation of immune complexes, and (3) a carbohydrate component of a microbe's cell membrane.

(Complement, NCI Thesaurus)

Terminology relevant to the state or condition of the microbe or lesion to indicate whether it is resistant to drugs normally used in treatment.

(CDISC SDTM Drug Resistance Status Terminology, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

The research may further understanding of how marine microbes respond to climate change.

(Study analyzing cells' blueprints reveals new patterns in the global distribution and diversity of ocean microbes, National Science Foundation)

Much of the research on the human microbial environment — or microbiome — has focused on identifying all the different microbe species.

(Microbes are at work in our bodies, and researchers have figured out what they're up to, National Science Foundation)

A layer of bacteria or other microbes that grows on and sticks to the surface of a structure.

(Biofilm, NCI Dictionary)

The undesirable presence of microorganisms or microbes such as bacteria and fungi (yeasts and molds).

(Device Microbial Contamination Evaluation Result, Food and Drug Administration)

The name of the specific microbe that the test is intended to identify.

(Performed Clinical Result Inactive Comment, NCI Thesaurus)