microbe
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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microbelessadjective
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microbialadjective
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microbianadjective
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microbicadjective
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nonmicrobicadjective
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unmicrobialadjective
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unmicrobicadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of microbe
1880–85; < French < Greek mīkro- micro- + bíos life
Explanation
Microbe is a somewhat outdated way for scientists to talk about the tiny bugs that cause diseases. When you get the flu, you can blame a microbe. In the nineteenth century, the idea that germs caused illness was brand new, and doctors referred to both germs and microbes interchangeably. The word microorganism is more scientifically precise, and in fact microbe is a shortened form of that long, Greek-rooted word. Mikro means "small," and in microbe it's combined with bios, or "life."
Vocabulary lists containing microbe
Words to Live By: Bio
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Ecology - Middle School
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Earth Science - Middle School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Their study, published in 2025 in the journal the Lancet Microbe, found that the babies with that composition were less likely to be hospitalized for a respiratory infection before age 2 than other babies.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 3, 2026
Publishing in the journal Cell Host & Microbe, the study describes an approach that provides step-by-step directions for the immune system to generate the elusive, yet necessary antibodies for a successful HIV vaccine.
From Science Daily • May 9, 2024
A new paper in the journal Cell Host & Microbe describes how plants send tiny, innocuous-seeming lipid "bubbles" filled with RNA across enemy lines, into the cells of the aggressive mold.
From Science Daily • Dec. 21, 2023
Newborns delivered via C-section who received their mother’s vaginal microbes had more advanced motor and communication skills than other C-section babies months later, the team reports today in Cell Host & Microbe.
From Science Magazine • Jun. 14, 2023
The lodge, "The Microbe," was at work, and the most radical arrangements started there.
From Cæsar or Nothing by How, Louis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
