extremophile

British

/ ɪkˈstrɛməˌfaɪl /

noun

a microbe that lives in an environment once thought to be uninhabitable, for example in boiling or frozen water

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

extremophile Scientific

/ ĭk-strē′mə-fīl′ /

An organism adapted to living in conditions of extreme temperature, pressure, or chemical concentration, as in highly acidic or salty environments. Many extremophiles are unicellular organisms known as archaea.

Example Sentences

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extremophile

Organisms that can survive in this suspended, or anabiotic, state, Yarzábal explained, include not just extremophile bacteria but also viruses, fungi, protozoa and microscopic animals called nematodes.

From Salon ● Apr. 20, 2025

So, Ralf Moeller and colleagues investigated whether they could identify an extremophile by using its protein signature rather than a gene sequence.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 15, 2024

Out of more than 1,000 different extremophile species gathered from those sites, the team managed to grow just 31 in the lab.

From Scientific American ● Jul. 21, 2021

A breeding ground for extremophile bacteria, like the darkest crevices of the Mariana Trench.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 25, 2020

“But it's an enzyme from an extremophile microbe that's being used in tests to diagnose COVID-19 right now.”

From Nature ● Jul. 12, 2020

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023