Adjacent Words

microbe definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a minute life form (especially a disease-causing bacterium); the term is not in technical use [syn: microbe, bug, germ]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: International Scientific Vocabulary micr- + Greek bios life — more at quick Date: 1881 microorganism, germ • microbial also microbic adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. a minute living being; a micro-organism (esp. bacteria causing disease and fermentation). Derivatives: microbial adj. microbic adj. Etymology: F f. Gk mikros small + bios life

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Microbe Mi"crobe, Microbion Mi*cro"bi*on, n. [NL. microbion, fr. Gr. ? little + ? life.] (Biol.) A microscopic organism; -- particularly applied to bacteria and especially to pathogenic forms; as, the microbe of fowl cholera.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(microbes) A microbe is a very small living thing, which you can only see if you use a microscope. = micro-organism N-COUNT

Moby Thesaurus

adenovirus, aerobe, aerobic bacteria, aerobic organism, amoeba, anaerobe, anaerobic bacteria, anaerobic organism, autotrophic organism, bacillus, bacteria, bacterium, being, bug, coccus, creature, crumb, disease-producing microorganism, dot, drop, droplet, echovirus, enterovirus, filterable virus, fleck, flyspeck, fungus, genetic individual, germ, gnat, grain, gram-negative bacteria, gram-positive bacteria, heterotrophic organism, individual, iota, jot, living being, living thing, microorganism, midge, minim, minutia, minutiae, mite, mold, morphological individual, mote, nonfilterable virus, ont, organic being, organism, organization, particle, pathogen, physiological individual, picornavirus, pinhead, pinpoint, point, protozoa, protozoon, reovirus, rhinovirus, rickettsia, scrap, snip, snippet, speck, spirillum, spirochete, spore, staphylococcus, streptococcus, tittle, trypanosome, vanishing point, vibrio, virus, zooid, zoon