MICROORGANISM


Meaning of MICROORGANISM in English

“+ noun

Etymology: International Scientific Vocabulary micr- + organism

: an organism of microscopic or ultramicroscopic size — used especially of bacteria and protozoa

soil-inhabiting microorganisms — S.A.Waksman

Synonyms:

germ , microbe , bacterium , bacillus , virus , pathogen : microorganism is the general term for any organism of microscopic or ultramicroscopic size. germ and microbe are early nonscientific synonyms for microorganism. germ often refers to microorganisms regarded as a source or origin (as of a disease)

typhus germs

It is often used to indicate a rudimentary beginning or embryo capable of evolving or developing

germs of the doctrine of which he is the founder may be traced to much earlier, even ancient periods — Encyc. Americana

microbe may be somewhat more awesome than germ and is rarely used with pleasing suggestion

the late stage of true invasion of the tissues around the brain and spinal cord by the deadly microbes — F.G.Slaughter

bacterium is now the common scientific designation for a large group of microscopic plants with single-celled or acellular bodies of various forms that affect the life of man in various ways. bacteria is sometimes used to designate rod-shaped bacteria that do not form endospores and is contrasted with bacillus in its narrow sense. bacillus in science refers to any straight rod-shaped bacterium or to any straight aerobic rod-shaped bacterium that forms endospores; popularly it refers to various disease-causing bacteria

the bacilli of diphtheria

virus technically indicates a submicroscopic infective agent sometimes considered as composed of complex protein molecules capable of growth in living cells

polio virus

virus is applicable to any dread, insidious, inexorable agent

right in claiming that the virus of Pan-Germanism and Nazism was present in the speeches — Times Literary Supplement

pathogen is applicable to any living agent that causes disease (as a bacterium, virus, fungus, or worm); it stresses this aspect and implies nothing about relative size, being freely applied to agencies that are not microorganisms

many pathogens attack a vigorous host most readily — Science

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.