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  • agar
    agar
    noun
    Also agar-agar. a gelatinlike product of certain seaweeds, used for solidifying certain culture media, as a thickening agent for ice cream and other foods, as a substitute for gelatin, in adhesives, as an emulsifier, etc.
  • Agar
    Agar
    noun

agar

1 American  
[ah-gahr, ag-er] / ˈɑ gɑr, ˈæg ər /

noun

  1. Also called Japanese isinglass, Japanese gelatin, Chinese gelatin, Chinese isinglass. Also agar-agar. a gelatinlike product of certain seaweeds, used for solidifying certain culture media, as a thickening agent for ice cream and other foods, as a substitute for gelatin, in adhesives, as an emulsifier, etc.

  2. Biology. a culture medium having an agar base.


Agar 2 American  
[ay-gahr] / ˈeɪ gɑr /

noun

Douay Bible.
  1. Hagar.


agar British  
/ ˈeɪɡə /

noun

  1. Also called: agar-agar. a complex gelatinous carbohydrate obtained from seaweeds, esp those of the genus Gelidium, used as a culture medium for bacteria, a laxative, in food such as ice cream as a thickening agent ( E406 ), etc

"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

agar Scientific  
/ ā′gär′,ä′gär′ /
  1. A gelatinous material obtained from marine algae, especially seaweed, used as a medium for growing bacterial cultures in the laboratory and as a thickener and stabilizer in food products.


Etymology

Origin of agar

First recorded in 1885–90, agar is from the Malay word agaragar seaweed from which a gelatin is rendered, or the gelatin itself


Vocabulary lists containing agar

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.

See Examples For:

To assemble the circuits, the researchers printed bacterial colonies onto plates containing agar, which serves as a growth medium.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 4, 2026

When Pearson tried the screening method using organ agar, her team found that the dominant bacteria reproduced those that were dominant in a live animal.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 30, 2023

Limoncello “pearls” created with the help of lemon and agar agar.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 24, 2023

Chloe swabs parts of her body, or plants, and transfers the samples to petri dishes with a special growth medium inside called agar.

From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2022

We can imagine them, curious and dispassionate, observing us, as we would watch a bacterial culture in a dish of agar, to determine whether, this year again, we manage to avoid self- destruction.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

For Agar to be in that pub in Worcester was the result of a chaotic time in Australian cricket history.

From BBC ● Nov. 18, 2025

Agar could have been stumped on six off Swann, but got the benefit of a hairline decision.

From BBC ● Nov. 18, 2025

Agar, the teenager who was not supposed to be on the tour, walked out to bat.

From BBC ● Nov. 18, 2025

The 98 Agar swaggered his way to on the second day in Nottingham remains the highest score by a number 11 in Test cricket.

From BBC ● Nov. 18, 2025

“We need to gather six thousand three hundred names,” Dr. Agar said.

From "The Lions of Little Rock" by Kristin Levine

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