BACTERIUM
Dictionary entry overview: What does bacterium mean?
• BACTERIUM (noun)
The noun BACTERIUM has 1 sense:
1. (microbiology) single-celled or noncellular spherical or spiral or rod-shaped organisms lacking chlorophyll that reproduce by fission; important as pathogens and for biochemical properties; taxonomy is difficult; often considered plants
Familiarity information: BACTERIUM used as a noun is very rare.
Dictionary entry details
• BACTERIUM (noun)
Meaning:
(microbiology) single-celled or noncellular spherical or spiral or rod-shaped organisms lacking chlorophyll that reproduce by fission; important as pathogens and for biochemical properties; taxonomy is difficult; often considered plants
Classified under:
Nouns denoting animals
Synonyms:
bacteria; bacterium
Hypernyms ("bacterium" is a kind of...):
micro-organism; microorganism (any organism of microscopic size)
Domain category:
microbiology (the branch of biology that studies microorganisms and their effects on humans)
Domain member category:
immune reaction; immune response; immunologic response (a bodily defense reaction that recognizes an invading substance (an antigen: such as a virus or fungus or bacteria or transplanted organ) and produces antibodies specific against that antigen)
bioremediation (the act of treating waste or pollutants by the use of microorganisms (as bacteria) that can break down the undesirable substances)
resistance (the degree of unresponsiveness of a disease-causing microorganism to antibiotics or other drugs (as in penicillin-resistant bacteria))
microphage (a neutrophil that ingests small things (as bacteria))
peritrichous (covered all over with uniformly distributed flagella)
Gram-positive ((of bacteria) being or relating to a bacterium that retains the violet stain used in Gram's method)
Gram-negative ((of bacteria) being of or relating to a bacterium that does not retain the violet stain used in Gram's method)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bacterium"):
acidophil; acidophile (an organism that thrives in a relatively acid environment)
rod (any rod-shaped bacterium)
pus-forming bacteria (bacteria that produce pus)
penicillin-resistant bacteria (bacteria that are unaffected by penicillin)
nitrobacterium (any of the bacteria in the soil that take part in the nitrogen cycle; they oxidize ammonium compounds into nitrites or oxidize nitrites into nitrates)
legionella; Legionella pneumophilia (the motile aerobic rod-shaped Gram-negative bacterium that thrives in central heating and air conditioning systems and can cause Legionnaires' disease)
gonococcus; Neisseria gonorrhoeae (the pus-producing bacterium that causes gonorrhea)
Francisella; genus Francisella (a genus of Gram-negative aerobic bacteria that occur as pathogens and parasite in many animals (including humans))
Calymmatobacterium; genus Calymmatobacterium (a genus of bacterial rods containing only the one species that causes granuloma inguinale)
eubacteria; eubacterium; true bacteria (a large group of bacteria having rigid cell walls; motile types have flagella)
bacteroid (a rodlike bacterium (especially any of the rod-shaped or branched bacteria in the root nodules of nitrogen-fixing plants))
diplococcus (Gram-positive bacteria usually occurring in pairs)
