bacterial
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
bacterium /bakˈtɪərɪəm/
▶noun (pl. bacteria /-rɪə/) a member of a large group of unicellular microorganisms (prokaryotes) which have cell walls but lack an organized nucleus and other structures, and include numerous disease-causing forms.
– derivatives
bacterial adjective,
bacterially adverb.
bacterial adjective,
bacterially adverb.
– origin C19: mod. L., from Gk baktērion, dimin. of baktēria ‘rod, cane’ (because the first ones to be discovered were rod-shaped).
usage: Bacteria, the plural form of bacterium, is sometimes mistakenly treated as a singular form.
'bacterial' also found in these Oxford entries:
anthrax
- bacteriolysis
- bacterium
- blackleg
- black rot
- black spot
- bleomycin
- botulin
- braxy
- brucellosis
- chloramphenicol
- cholera
- coagulase
- diphtheria
- doxorubicin
- endotoxin
- episome
- erysipeloid
- erythrogenic
- exotoxin
- fireblight
- foot rot
- furunculosis
- gangrene
- gastro-enteritis
- impetigo
- leaf spot
- legionnaires' disease
- leprosy
- leptospirosis
- malolactic
- meningitis
- nidus
- orf
- pasteurellosis
- peritonitis
- plague
- protoplast
- pyuria
- relapsing fever
- rifampicin
- rot
- scarlet fever
- septic tank
- spore
- strangles
- streptomycin
- sycosis
- syphilis
- tetanus
