Meaning & use
pathogenic
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Meaning
adjectivebefore a noun
Able to cause disease in a living thing.
Grammar: Usually comes before a noun: pathogenic bacteria. It can also follow be: some strains are pathogenic.
Patterns
- pathogenic to someone
- pathogenic bacteria
- pathogenic strain
Most bacteria in the soil are harmless, but a few are pathogenic.
The lab tested the water for pathogenic organisms.
This strain of the fungus is pathogenic to wheat.
Common combinations
- pathogenic bacteria
- Cooking meat thoroughly kills pathogenic bacteria.
- pathogenic strain
- Only one pathogenic strain was found in the sample.
- pathogenic fungi
- Pathogenic fungi can destroy a whole crop.
- pathogenic to humans
- The virus is not pathogenic to humans.
- pathogenic potential
- Scientists measured the pathogenic potential of the new virus.
Synonyms and how they differ
- disease-causing
- Disease-causing is a plain, everyday way to say it, while pathogenic is the formal scientific term.
- infectious
- Infectious describes a disease that spreads, while pathogenic describes the organism that causes it.
- virulent
- Virulent stresses how severe or strong the harm is, whereas pathogenic only says that it can cause disease.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: pathogenic or pathological?
pathogenic vs pathological
Pathological relates to disease in general, or describes an extreme habit, as in a pathological liar. Pathogenic means able to cause disease.
Practice
Which organism is described as pathogenic?
Choose one answer.
Pathogenic means disease-causing, which fits the food poisoning bacterium. The other options are harmless or helpful.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “pathogenic”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.