1890–95; named after J. R. Petri (died 1921), German bacteriologist
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
I’m not ashamed to admit that there have been times when those 32-ounce tubs just stare at me day after day, haloed by the refrigerator light, moving further from consumable and closer to petri dish.
From Salon • Apr. 28, 2026
A pilot friend who is crossing the Atlantic from the Canary Islands in a sailboat this month called cruise ships a “floating petri dish.‘
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 19, 2025
You can see the leopard print pattern in the petri dish where the phage have been making light work of a bacterial infection that modern medicine was struggling to shift.
From BBC • Jun. 27, 2025
As the Salton Sea has become a fertilized petri dish, the prevailing winds have pushed aerosolized bacteria south to communities in the Imperial Valley where people have complained of respiratory issues.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 6, 2024
After dropping each sample into a petri dish, Wilbur put bits of Henrietta’s tumor-covered cervix into containers filled with formaldehyde to save them for future use.
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
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.
