MICROORGANISM

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does microorganism mean? 

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

1. any organism of microscopic size

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

 Dictionary entry details 

• MICROORGANISM (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any organism of microscopic size

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

micro-organism; microorganism

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

being; organism (a living thing that has (or can develop) the ability to act or function independently)

Meronyms (parts of "microorganism"):

pilus (hairlike structure especially on the surface of a cell or microorganism)

Domain category:

animal; animate being; beast; brute; creature; fauna (a living organism characterized by voluntary movement)

flora; plant; plant life ((botany) a living organism lacking the power of locomotion)

Domain member category:

virulence; virulency (extreme harmfulness (as the capacity of a microorganism to cause disease))

transmitter; vector (any agent (person or animal or microorganism) that carries and transmits a disease)

bacteremia; bacteriaemia; bacteriemia (transient presence of bacteria (or other microorganisms) in the blood)

highly infective ((of a microorganism) extremely infective)

motile ((of spores or microorganisms) capable of movement)

immotile; nonmotile ((of spores or microorganisms) not capable of movement)

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

monad ((biology) a single-celled microorganism (especially a flagellate protozoan))

intestinal flora (harmless microorganisms (as Escherichia coli) that inhabit the intestinal tract and are essential for its normal functioning)

virus ((virology) ultramicroscopic infectious agent that replicates itself only within cells of living hosts; many are pathogenic; a piece of nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) wrapped in a thin coat of protein)

moneran; moneron (organisms that typically reproduce by asexual budding or fission and whose nutritional mode is absorption or photosynthesis or chemosynthesis)

bacteria; bacterium ((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)

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

pathogen (any disease-producing agent (especially a virus or bacterium or other microorganism))

protoctist (any of the unicellular protists)

protist; protistan (free-living or colonial organisms with diverse nutritional and reproductive modes)

microflora (microscopic plants; bacteria are often considered to be microflora)

 Context examples 

This allele, which encodes azurocidin protein, plays a role in the mediation of inflammatory responses and microorganism host defense.

(AZU1 wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)

A type of immune cell that makes proteins called antibodies, which bind to microorganisms and other foreign substances, and help fight infections.

(B-Lymphocyte, NCI Dictionary)

A large group of single-cell microorganisms.

(Bacteria, NCI Dictionary)

Any of a number of biochemical tests performed to identify the genus and/or species of a microorganism.

(Bacterial Typing Procedure, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

A substance that kills microorganisms such as bacteria or mold, or stops them from growing and causing disease.

(Antibiotic, NCI Dictionary)

Substances naturally produced by microorganisms or their derivatives that selectively target microorganisms not humans.

(Antibiotic, NCI Thesaurus)

At night, these microorganisms are 100 times more abundant.

(Bacteria living near coral reefs change in synchrony across distances, National Science Foundation)

According to a study, certain microorganisms can develop in such multi-extreme environment.

(Place discovered on earth with no microbial life, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The study of microorganisms with an emphasis on their role in the human disease process.

(Medical Microbiology, NCI Thesaurus)

Any technique in which a sample is condensed in order to afford greater sensitivity for the detection of microorganisms.

(Microbial Concentration Method, NCI Thesaurus)