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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

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Etymology

Origin of test tube¹

First recorded in 1840–50

Origin of test-tube²

First recorded in 1885–90

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

test tube test-tube

Early reports suggested that she fell ill after breaking a test tube.

From Slate ● Oct. 8, 2026

The Russian news outlet People of Baikal, citing unnamed sources close to the regional security services, said the dead woman may have contracted pneumonic plague from a broken test tube.

From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026

Unconfirmed reports had suggested the woman fell ill either after breaking a test tube containing the pathogen or following a field trip to a region where plague is found naturally among wild rodents.

From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026

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

We are fascinated by him, goggled and bent over the stove a clamped test tube protruding from his gloved hand.

From "Brown Girl Dreaming" by Jacqueline Woodson

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

In Bethesda, Maryland, in the middle of a wide-open warehouse that was once a Fritos factory, he built a glass-enclosed room that housed a rotating conveyor belt with hundreds of test-tube holders built into it.

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

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