Meaning & use
microbe
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Meanings
nouncountable
A living thing that is too small to see without a microscope, especially one that can cause disease.
Grammar: Countable: a microbe, microbes. Often used in the plural when talking about them in general.
Patterns
- a microbe causes something
- microbes in something
- kill microbes
Washing your hands removes many harmful microbes.
Some microbes in the soil help plants grow.
The lab studies how a microbe enters the human body.
nouncountableinformal
Used informally for any germ or tiny organism that spreads infection.
Grammar: Countable and informal; in science writing, microorganism or pathogen is preferred.
Patterns
- catch a microbe
- a microbe spreads
He joked that he caught a microbe on the crowded train.
The doctor explained that a microbe, not stress, caused the fever.
Word forms
| plural | microbes |
|---|
Common combinations
- harmful microbe
- A harmful microbe can spread quickly in hospitals.
- microbes in the soil
- Microbes in the soil break down fallen leaves.
- a type of microbe
- Scientists discovered a new type of microbe in the lake.
- kill microbes
- This cleaning product is designed to kill microbes on surfaces.
Synonyms and how they differ
- germ
- Germ is the everyday word for a disease-causing microbe and is more common in health advice.
- microorganism
- Microorganism is the scientific term and includes all tiny life forms, not only those that cause disease.
- pathogen
- Pathogen is a specialist word for a microbe that causes disease; microbe is broader and less formal.
- bacterium
- Bacterium refers only to one type of microbe, so it is narrower than microbe.
Word family
- microbial adjective
- Relating to microbes: microbial life.
- microbiology noun
- The scientific study of microbes.
- microbiologist noun
- A scientist who studies microbes.
Commonly confused: microbe or microchip? microbe or microscope?
microbe vs microchip
A microchip is a tiny electronic part, not a living organism.
microbe vs microscope
A microscope is the instrument used to see microbes; the words sound similar but mean different things.
Practice
Which sentence uses microbe correctly?
Choose one answer.
A microbe is a tiny living thing that can cause illness, so option 2 fits. The other options treat microbe as a physical object or vehicle, which is wrong.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “microbe”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.