pathogen
Americannoun
-
pathogens
plural
noun
-
An agent that causes infection or disease, especially a microorganism, such as a bacterium or protozoan, or a virus.
-
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")
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Fast Food Nation
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
The Martian
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
Rather than testing whether a person has antibodies against a single pathogen, researchers can examine a much broader immune landscape shaped by previous exposure to viruses, bacteria and other immune targets.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 21, 2026
It was a sick new business model and digital pathogen.
From Slate ● Aug. 20, 2026
Salmonella, a bacterial pathogen, is one of the most common causes of food poisoning.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026
“If I were a bad actor trying to design a pathogen or something to do harm, I would not use AI,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
It does mean, though, that a human population as a whole becomes better protected against the pathogen.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Fifty-five people have been infected with E. coli or salmonella in connection with the outbreak, the health agency said, including two people who contracted both pathogens.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
As people move deeper and deeper into ecosystems and territories where few, if any, had lived before, they risk interacting with pathogens that were previously confined.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
Instead, genetic studies of archaeological remains from Europe and the Americas have uncovered evidence of multiple treponemal diseases in ancient populations, emphasizing how complex the evolutionary history of these pathogens may be.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026
Climate change and environmental disturbance have aided an increasing creep of the territories ticks inhabit—along with the viruses, bacteria, and pathogens they carry.
From Slate ● Aug. 6, 2026
These diseases must have been the evolutionary survivors of far more pathogens that tried to make the jump to us from animals—and mostly failed.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
