pathogen
Americannoun
-
pathogens
plural
noun
-
An agent that causes infection or disease, especially a microorganism, such as a bacterium or protozoan, or a virus.
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See Note at germ
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of pathogen
Explanation
A pathogen is a tiny living organism, such as a bacterium or virus, that makes people sick. Washing your hands frequently helps you avoid the pathogens that can make you sick. Pathos is the Greek word for disease and -genes means "born of." So, a pathogen is something that causes disease, like a virus like the rhinovirus, which causes the common cold. At summer picnics, people are cautious about keeping certain foods like potato salad in coolers with ice — the eggs in such dishes spoil quickly out in the heat, introducing pathogens that can make people sick.
Vocabulary lists containing pathogen
Common Senses: Path ("Feeling")
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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.
See Examples For:
Because several bacterial species may contribute to the same disease, methods designed to target a single pathogen may not be sufficient.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 11, 2026
Plague is a disease caused by the Yersinia pestis bacterium, the same pathogen that killed millions of people in Europe during the Middle Ages.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
“You cannot be able to put a wall between Uganda and D.R. Congo, between Kenya and Uganda, to prevent the entry of a pathogen, so we continue to maintain a heightened state of alert.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
Asked if the pathogen might have been studied for potential use as a bio-weapon, the scientist agreed it was possible.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
Most human groups are a scattershot mix of HLA profiles, which means that almost always some people in the group will not get sick when exposed to a particular pathogen.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Samples tested found norovirus, campylobacter, shigella and "other pathogens that cause stomach cramps and diarrhoea", officials said.
From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026
We still use decades-old technology to detect the presence of dangerous pathogens.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
They help destroy pathogens and trigger the early inflammatory response.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 10, 2026
Rospotrebnadzor said Wednesday that the situation in the Irkutsk region remained "stable", and that nearly 5,000 tests had been conducted, none of which revealed dangerous pathogens.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
The insect pathogens are so specific that they infect only a small group of insects — sometimes a single species.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
