Meaning & use
microbe
A microscopic organism, especially a bacterium or virus, that can sometimes cause disease.
See it in a sentence
Washing your hands thoroughly removes many of the microbes that spread illness.
Scientists were surprised to discover microbes living deep beneath the ocean floor.
A note on using this word
Microbe is an informal general term; scientists more often say microorganism or name the specific type.
Words with a similar meaning
germmicroorganism
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
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