agar
noun
ˈä-gər 
1
: a gelatinous colloidal extract of a red alga (as of the genera Gelidium, Gracilaria, and Eucheuma) used especially in culture media or as a gelling and stabilizing agent in foods
2
: a culture medium containing agar
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web Enlarge / Burkholderia pseudomallei grown on sheep blood agar for 24 hours. 
Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 10 Aug. 2022 Enlarge / Burkholderia pseudomallei grown on sheep blood agar for 24 hours. Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 10 Aug. 2022 Enlarge / Burkholderia pseudomallei grown on sheep blood agar for 24 hours. Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 10 Aug. 2022 Enlarge / Burkholderia pseudomallei grown on sheep blood agar for 24 hours. Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 10 Aug. 2022 Enlarge / Burkholderia pseudomallei grown on sheep blood agar for 24 hours. Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 28 July 2022 The 20-by-10-centimeter device contained six cameras to observe the growth of the chickpeas from all angles as well as a nutritional gel instead of soil, which was made up mostly of water and some agar, a jellylike material. Shoshanna Solomon, Fortune, 13 June 2022 American anti-intellectualism provides a rich cultural agar for growing these theories. Elizabeth Williamson, Wired, 11 Mar. 2022 Glass explained that the square was a plate of agar on which colonies of the minimal cell had been grown. James Somers, The New Yorker, 28 Feb. 2022 See More
Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 10 Aug. 2022 Enlarge / Burkholderia pseudomallei grown on sheep blood agar for 24 hours. Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 10 Aug. 2022 Enlarge / Burkholderia pseudomallei grown on sheep blood agar for 24 hours. Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 10 Aug. 2022 Enlarge / Burkholderia pseudomallei grown on sheep blood agar for 24 hours. Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 10 Aug. 2022 Enlarge / Burkholderia pseudomallei grown on sheep blood agar for 24 hours. Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 28 July 2022 The 20-by-10-centimeter device contained six cameras to observe the growth of the chickpeas from all angles as well as a nutritional gel instead of soil, which was made up mostly of water and some agar, a jellylike material. Shoshanna Solomon, Fortune, 13 June 2022 American anti-intellectualism provides a rich cultural agar for growing these theories. Elizabeth Williamson, Wired, 11 Mar. 2022 Glass explained that the square was a plate of agar on which colonies of the minimal cell had been grown. James Somers, The New Yorker, 28 Feb. 2022 See More Word History
Etymology
short for Malay agar-agar, name for the red alga from which it is extracted
First Known Use
1885, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Phrases Containing agar
Medical Definition
agar
noun
ˈäg-ər
1
: a gelatinous colloidal extract of a red alga (as of the genera Gelidium, Gracilaria, and Eucheuma) used especially in culture media or as a gelling and stabilizing agent in foods
2
: a culture medium containing agar