microbe

[ mahy-krohb ]

noun

1. a microorganism, especially a pathogenic bacterium.

microbe

/ ˈmaɪkrəʊb /

noun

1. any microscopic organism, esp a disease-causing bacterium

microbe

/ mī′krōb′ /

1. A microorganism, especially a bacterium that causes disease.
2. See Note at germ

Derived Forms

• miˈcrobial, adjective

Other Words From

• microbe·less adjective
• mi·crobi·al mi·crobic mi·crobi·an adjective
• nonmi·crobic adjective
• unmi·crobi·al adjective
• unmi·crobic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of microbe¹

1880–85; < French < Greek mīkro- micro- + bíos life

Word History and Origins

Origin of microbe¹

C19: from French, from micro- + Greek bios life

Example Sentences

Medical mask material is electrostatically charged, which may repel microbes, in addition to filtering particles.

From Science News

They recently returned to El Salt for new samples, which they scoured for fragments of ancient DNA from the bacteria and other microbes that once lived in the intestines of Neanderthals.

From Ars Technica

They’re microbes that thrive in areas with lots of nutrients.

From Science News For Students

In the lab, the sea stars began wasting when the researchers added phytoplankton or a common bacterial-growth ingredient to the warm water tubs those microbes and sea stars were living in.

From Science News

A microbe on the map, a Mid-Atlantic territory of onlys, we-don’t-have-thats and so much poultry.

From Washington Post

"We don't see the microbe themselves but we large scale structures that the microbes constructed before they died," he said.

From The Daily Beast

My failure to see a microbe is a statement about the precision of my instrument, not about whether there is a microbe on the leaf.

From The Daily Beast

The final proof was the cure of the patient by an autogenous vaccine made of the offending microbe.

From Project Gutenberg

The sheep get scabby from a microbe under the skin, which causes them to itch fearfully, and they lose their wool.

From Project Gutenberg

Yet it would be better to begin by doing so, before bringing the preservative microbe on the scene.

From Project Gutenberg

Their hands clasped in the brief, tight greeting of the West that is death to the hand-shake microbe.

From Project Gutenberg

The same takes place with the spirilla of recurrent typhus and the microbe of erysipelas.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• bacillus
• bacterium
• bug
• germ
• microorganism
• pathogen
• virus