From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbacteriabac‧te‧ri‧a /bækˈtɪəriə $ -ˈtɪr-/ ●○○ noun [plural] (singular bacterium /-riəm/) HBMvery small living things, some of which cause illness or disease → virus —bacterial adjective a bacterial infection
Examples from the Corpus
bacteria• The mouth and digestive system are remarkably well defended against bacteria and other disease-causing, agents.• Botulism toxin from bacteria prevents the release of acetylcholine and is the most poisonous substance known.• Also, the test may be useful for monitoring the effects of antibiotics on the gastrointestinal bacteria.• He looked like he had a corner on the local bacteria market.• Quantitative measurements show that in methanogenic subjects the majority of gaseous hydrogen produced from fermentation is consumed by methanogenic bacteria.• There may be more bacteria in and on you as you read this than there are human beings in the whole world.• The results that we saw did not show the presence of any forms of bacteria.• The incubation period almost certainly varies with the number of bacteria originally passed on.Origin bacteria (1800-1900) Modern Latin Greek bakterion “stick, rod”; because of their shape 