bacteriumnoun [ C usually plural ]
uk/bækˈtɪə.ri.əm/us/bækˈtɪr.i.əm/plural bacteriaC1 a type of very small organism that lives in air, earth, water, plants, and animals, often one that causes disease:
an illness caused by bacteria in drinking water
The bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae causes about a third of some 3,000 annual meningitis cases.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Bacteria, moulds, germs & viruses
- adenovirus
- antimicrobial
- bacteriology
- bacteriophage
- C. difficile
- E. coli
- fungal
- fungoid
- fungus
- HIV-positive
- listeria
- microbe
- microorganism
- mould
- organism
- probiotic
- shitake mushroom
- taenia
- West Nile virus
- yeast
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