mycobacterium

British

/ ˌmaɪkəʊbækˈtɪərɪəm /

noun

any of the rod-shaped Gram-positive bacteria of the genus Mycobacterium , some of which cause human diseases, such as tuberculosis and leprosy

"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

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.

Caused by bacteria mycobacterium tuberculosis, tuberculosis disease is spread through the air.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 25, 2024

He and his colleagues were building a library of the proteins that make up the mycobacterium that causes TB.

From Salon • Oct. 5, 2023

Both were exposed to mycobacterium abscessus, likely to have come from the site's water supply.

From BBC • Nov. 22, 2022

Several studies even have shown that surgical masks fail to prevent transmission of the much larger mycobacterium tuberculosis, which causes TB.

From Slate • Jan. 27, 2020

Like cancer and like TB before the discovery of the mycobacterium tuberculosis, autism is a condition whose etiology remains largely a mystery.

From New York Times • Feb. 4, 2019

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