bacterium

[ bak-teer-ee-uhm ]

See synonyms for bacterium on Thesaurus.com

noun

singular of bacteria.

Origin of bacterium

1840–50; <New Latin <Greek baktḗrion, diminutive of baktēría staff; akin to báktron stick, Latin baculum, bacillum

Words Nearby bacterium

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use bacterium in a sentence

No, not Ebola, but rather infection with the dreaded bacterium, Yersinia pestis.
Bubonic Plague Is Back (but It Never Really Left) | Kent Sepkowitz | November 27, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, the illness is transmitted by the bite of an infected tick.
Predator Doctors Take Advantage of Patients With ‘Chronic Lyme’ Scam | Russell Saunders | September 19, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
One type of bacterium is likely very different from its neighbors, and may have equally different effects on the body.
Your Probiotic Is Probably B.S. | Carrie Arnold | June 25, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Not only did the insertion work, the extra base pair was kept by offspring of the original bacterium.
Synthetic DNA: The New Drug Makers? | Elizabeth Lopatto | May 18, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Pertussis, or “whooping cough,” is caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis.
Thanks to Anti-Vaxxers, Mumps Are Back. What’s Next? | Russell Saunders | March 20, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST

It is a plantigrade circumflex vertebrate bacterium that hasnt any wings and is uncertain.
A Horse's Tale | Mark Twain
Plantigrade circumflex vertebrate bacterium that hasnt any wings and is uncertain.
A Horse's Tale | Mark Twain
When we have succeeded in isolating a certain kind of bacterium in a given dish, we are said to have a pure culture.
A Civic Biology | George William Hunter
But probably each colony arose from a single bacterium which got into the dish when it was exposed to the air.
A Civic Biology | George William Hunter
At the same time Prof. Bayley Balfour had examined it and concluded that it was a mixture of a yeast and a bacterium.
Makers of British Botany; a collection of biographies by living botanists | Various

British Dictionary definitions for bacterium

bacterium

/ (bækˈtɪərɪəm) /

noun

the singular of bacteria

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for bacterium

bacterium

[ băk-tîr′ē-əm ]

Plural bacteria

Any of a large group of one-celled organisms that lack a cell nucleus, reproduce by fission or by forming spores, and in some cases cause disease. They are the most abundant lifeforms on Earth, and are found in all living things and in all of the Earth's environments. Bacteria usually live off other organisms. Bacteria make up most of the kingdom of prokaryotes (Monera or Prokaryota), with one group (the archaea) sometimes classified as a separate kingdom. See also archaeon prokaryote.

usage For bacterium

It is important to remember that bacteria is the plural of bacterium, and that saying a bacteria is incorrect. It is correct to say The soil sample contains millions of bacteria, and Tetanus is caused by a bacterium.

Other words from bacterium

bacterial adjective

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