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• test tube
  test tube

  noun

  a hollow cylinder of thin glass with one end closed, used in chemical and biological experimentation and analysis.
• test-tube
  test-tube

  adjective

  produced in or as if in a test tube; synthetic or experimental.

test tube

¹ American  

noun

test tubes plural

1. a hollow cylinder of thin glass with one end closed, used in chemical and biological experimentation and analysis.

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test-tube ² American  

[test-toob, -tyoob] / ˈtɛstˌtub, -ˌtjub /

adjective

1. produced in or as if in a test tube; synthetic or experimental.

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test tube British  

noun

1. a cylindrical round-bottomed glass tube open at one end: used in scientific experiments

2. (modifier) made synthetically in, or as if in, a test tube

   a test-tube product

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test tube Scientific  

/ tĕst /

1. A cylindrical tube of clear glass, usually open at one end and rounded at the other, used as a container for small amounts of a substance in laboratory tests and experiments.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• test tubes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of test tube¹

First recorded in 1840–50

Origin of test-tube²

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

test tube test-tube

In test tube studies, bone forming cells quickly moved into the structured hydrogel and began producing collagen, a key building block of bone.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 3, 2026

There are levels to the game, and on some levels, you don’t see the colors of the marbles that are farther down in the test tube until they are accessible.

From Slate ● Dec. 28, 2024

Their daughter, Natalie Tomlinson, was born in 1983 - the first Welsh "test tube baby".

From BBC ● Nov. 23, 2024

They have shown promise in test tube and animal studies aimed at conditions including heart attacks and wound healing.

From Science Magazine ● Mar. 31, 2024

It involved a glass test tube in a special holder, suspended over an angled mirror.

From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng

If fertility continues to fall, we may indeed drift toward the world Aldous Huxley imagined—a “brave new world” possible only with test-tube babies.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 27, 2026

Jarrell-Searcy's parents met over a test-tube centrifuge in a laboratory.

From BBC ● Mar. 26, 2026

The news simply said that in a test-tube study, ivermectin showed "antiviral" capabilities against omicron.

From Salon ● Feb. 2, 2022

One year, her class had to use wire hangers to make test-tube clamps for an advanced-placement biology experiment.

From New York Times ● Sep. 7, 2021

They were pioneers in the field of infertility treatments, and were responsible for the first test-tube baby born in the United States.

From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot