Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Definition: Bacteria |
BacteriaNoun1. 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. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "bacteria" was first used: 1847. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Energy | Single-celled organisms, free-living or parasitic, that break down the wastes and bodies of dead organisms, making their components available for reuse by other organisms. (references) |
Environment | (Singular: bacterium) Microscopic living organisms that can aid in pollution control by metabolizing organic matter in sewage, oil spills or other pollutants. However, bacteria in soil, water or air can also cause human, animal and plant health problems. (references) |
Health | Unicellular prokaryotic microorganisms which generally possess rigid cell walls, multiply by cell division, and exhibit three principal forms: round or coccal, rodlike or bacillary, and spiral or spirochetal. (references) |
Medicine | Single-celled microorganisms that lack chlorophyll. Some bacteria are capable of causing human, animal or plant diseases, others are essential in pollution control because they break down organic matter in the air and in the water. Source: European Union. (references) |
Weather | One-celled organisms. Many act as decomposers that break down dead organic matter into substances that dissolve in water and are used as nutrients by plants. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonym: BacteriaSynonym: bacterium (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Disease | Virus, bacterium, bacteria. |
Littleness | Animalcule, monad, mite, insect, emmet, fly, midge, gnat, shrimp, minnow, worm, maggot, entozoon; bacteria; infusoria; microzoa; phytozoaria; microbe; grub; tomtit, runt, mouse, small fry; millet seed, mustard seed; barleycorn; pebble, grain of sand; molehill, button, bubble. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Even animals lick themselves clean! I spend a lot of time with my boys in the shower, and I teach them that even body odour isn't just smell: it's bacteria, it's germs (Habitat; writing credit: Rene Daalder) | |
Clever | Support bacteria, they're the only culture some people have. (references; author: unknown) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Enemy Bacteria (1945) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
A bacteria mix is spread on an agar plate. From that plate, a recombinant clone containing a gene of interest is lifted. Then large amounts of the bacteria are grown and the plasma is harvested. The DNA is then extracted and used for studying genes, including oncogenes. Also in the same setting is a male, oriental scientist holding an agar plate. Credit: Bill Branson (photographer). | Shown are laboratory flasks. Recently scientists have learned to make interferon in bacteria, growing such microorganisms on simple nutrients in flasks, as shown. Credit: Linda Bartlett (photographer). | ||
Treating pets with insecticidal dust to kill fleas that could come into contact with humans can help control the spread of plague bacteria. Credit: CDC. | A blocked flea, i.e. dark spots in stomach, is unable to ingest its blood meal because of a mass of bacteria within the proventriculus, preventing passage of food from the esophagus to the stomach. Credit: CDC. | ||
![]() | North Inlet - Winyah Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. Oyster and clam beds are closed in some portions of estuaries due to high levels fecal coliform bacteria, an indicator of sewage pollution. Credit: National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERR). | ![]() | Hydrothermal vent tubeworms get energy from bacteria that live in their plumes. Credit: National Undersea Research Program (NURP). |
![]() | Minerals venting from the seafloor, provide chemosynthetic sustenance for bacteria, some of Earth's earliest life,. Credit: National Undersea Research Program (NURP). | ![]() | Filtering system in use on hog operation on a farm in Taylor County, Iowa. The system uses a series of hillside terraces that form constructed wetlands that also use bacteria to purify wastewater from a hog operation. Early tests indicated the water was. Credit: Tim McCabe. |
![]() | Water sample taken from the lagoon in a filtering system in use on a farm in Taylor County, Iowa. The system uses a series of hillside terraces that form constructed wetlands that also use bacteria to purify wastewater from a hog operation. See NRCS-IA-99. Credit: Tim McCabe. | ![]() | Does the thought of socks and underwear conjure up concerns about bacteria? Yes, microbes can reside and multiply in textile fabrics. But no matter-ARS researchers have developed treatments for cotton textiles with compounds containing peroxides. they resist bacteria and, as a bonus, resist fungi that cause athlete's foot. P. Credit: USDA ARS News; photo by Scott Bauer.. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Play | Caption |
| Drill; teeth; tooth; dentist; novocaine; cavity; root canal; plaque; bacteria. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Our mouths are full of bacteria. (references) | |
Whipple's disease is caused by bacteria. (references) | ||
Rodents can carry and spread the bacteria. (references) | ||
Business | Water purification systems used in major cities and towns of Northwest Russia are substandard, and bacteria are routinely present in drinking water. (references) | |
Scrap tires are not themselves hazardous material, but tires held in open storage have become breeding grounds for bacteria and microorganisms of health concern. (references) | ||
The sea ports and the Navy bases of Archangelsk and Severodvinsk continue to pollute the river of Northern Dvina, the major source of drinking water for those cities, where tap water is characterized by a high level of bacteria. (references) | ||
Economic History | Bulgaria | These include Kozloduy (Bulgaria's nuclear power plant), Bulgarian State Railways, Bulgarian Posts, Education and Sciences, El Bi Bulgarikum (producer of yogurt bacteria), National Cadastral Company, National Geodesy Company, Geopribor (geological equipment), Cartography Company, Geozashtita (geological protection), Vodokanalenzhenir (water pipe engineering), and all specialized hospitals and free zones. (references) |
Trade | Israel | Outside and inside containers of dangerous articles, such as poisons, insecticides, drugs, flammable goods, ammunition, explosives, reptiles, insects, bacteria and radioactive materials should be clearly marked. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Bacteria" is generally used as a noun (plural) -- approximately 99.92% of the time. "Bacteria" is used about 1,265 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (plural) | 99.92% | 1,264 | 6,212 |
| Lexical Verb (-s form) | 0.08% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 1,265 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "bacteria": acetic acid bacteria ♦ bacteria bed ♦ bacteria bed arm ♦ bacteria family ♦ bacteria genus ♦ bacteria order ♦ bacteria species ♦ Budding and Appendaged Bacteria ♦ colony of bacteria ♦ culture of bacteria ♦ Endospore-Forming Bacteria ♦ enteric bacteria ♦ Gliding Bacteria ♦ Gram-Negative Aerobic Bacteria ♦ Gram-Negative Anaerobic Bacteria ♦ Gram-Negative Bacteria ♦ Gram-Negative Chemolithotrophic Bacteria ♦ Gram-Negative Oxygenic Photosynthetic Bacteria ♦ Gram-Positive Bacteria ♦ Gram-Positive Endospore-Forming Bacteria ♦ Green Sulfur Bacteria ♦ INA+ bacteria ♦ iron bacteria ♦ Legionella bacteria ♦ nitric bacteria ♦ nitrous bacteria ♦ nodule bacteria ♦ phototrophic bacteria ♦ phototropic bacteria ♦ potato scab bacteria ♦ pseudomonas bacteria ♦ purple bacteria ♦ ring rot bacteria ♦ slime bacteria ♦ Spiral and Curved Bacteria ♦ strain of bacteria ♦ sulfur bacteria ♦ Sulfur-Reducing Bacteria ♦ sulphur bacteria ♦ true bacteria. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "bacteria": bacteria-fighting, bacteria-free, bacteria-killers, bacteria-laden, bacteria-like, bacteria-negative. | |
Ending with "bacteria": INA-bacteria. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "bacteria"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | bakter (bacterium). (various references) | |
Arabic | جراثيم, بكتيريا (microorganism). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | бактерии. (various references) | |
Chinese | 霉 (fungi, moldy), 菌 (dish, germ, mold, mushroom, vegetables), 黴 (fungi, moldy), 细菌 (Bacterial, bacterially, Bacterium). (various references) | |
Czech | baktérie (bacterium). (various references) | |
Danish | bakterier (microbial growth), bakterie flora (microbial growth). (various references) | |
Dutch | bacteriën (microbial growth, rod-shaped bacillus), bacteria. (various references) | |
Finnish | bakteeri (bacterium). (various references) | |
French | bactéries, bactérie (bacterium), flore microbienne, excrétion. (various references) | |
German | bakterien (bacteriums, germs). (various references) | |
Greek | βακτηρίδια, βακτήρια (bacilli, staff). (various references) | |
Hebrew | בקטרי" (bacterium, microorganism). (various references) | |
Hungarian | baktérium (bacterium, germ, microbe, wog). (various references) | |
Indonesian | bakteri. (various references) | |
Italian | batteri. (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 黴菌 (germ), バイヤー法 (all-terrain vehicle, baccalaureat, bacteriophage, Bagdad, baggy look, bagpipe, baguette, basilisk, bass, bassoon, bath, baumkuchen, Bayer process, bazaar, bilingual, bind, binder, binding, bounce, bound, bow side, bucket, budget, bug, bug fix, bug list, bug report, bugbear, buggy, bus, by-line, holidays, honey wagon, pail, sand buggy, surf clam, vacation, vacuum, vacuum car, vacuum cleaner, vagabond, vagina), ばい菌 (a sure thing, abruptly, be dry, disconnected, disperse, divorced, flop, germ, in drops, in pieces, loose, only, perfectly, plump, properly, right on the mark, rustle, rustling, scattered, suddenly, to be exhausted, to be worn out, to expose, to kill, to lay open, to murder, to take to pieces, unexpectedly, with a bang, with a clash, with a thud). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | バクテリア , ばいき" (germ). (various references) | |
Korean | 박테리아 (Bacterium). (various references) | |
Norwegian | bakterier. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | acteriabay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | bactérias. (various references) | |
Romanian | bacterie (bug, germ). (various references) | |
Russian | бактерия (bacterium), бактерии. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | bakterija. (various references) | |
Spanish | bacteria (bacterium, germ). (various references) | |
Swedish | bakterie (bacterium, bug, germ, microbe). (various references) | |
Turkish | bakteriler. (various references) | |
Turkmen | bakteria (r). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | бактерії. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Greek | 700 BCE-300 CE | bakterion. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "bacteria": bacterial, bacterially, bacterias. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "bacteria": archaebacteria, corynebacteria, cyanobacteria, enterobacteria, mycobacteria. (additional references) | |
Words containing "bacteria": abacterial, antibacterial, antibacterials, corynebacterial, enterobacterial, mycobacterial, nonbacterial. (additional references) | |
| |
"Bacteria" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Acetaria, bacter, bacteri, bacterian, bacterias, bacterie, bacteries, bactiera, Bactigras, bactria, bactrian, Bactriana, Bactris, bakhtir, baktiari, Baktria, baktrian, Barteria, basserama, batteria, Becerra, bekerian, berteroi, Sachturia. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "bacteria" (pronounced bakti"rēu) |
| 5 | -t i" r ē u | cafeteria, criteria. |
| 4 | -i" r ē u | diphtheria. |
| 3 | -r ē u | aciduria, area, aria, Atria, Coria, crematoria, emporia, equilibria, euphoria, Feria, Gloria, honoraria, hypochondria, hysteria, imperia, malaria, moratoria, nutria, phantasmagoria, rosaria, Victoria. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-b-c-e-i-r-t" | |
-1 letter: abreact, bearcat, cabaret. | |
-2 letters: abater, arabic, baiter, barite, carate, caribe, rebait, terbia, terbic. | |
-3 letters: abaci, abate, acari, acerb, aceta, aecia, areca, areic, atria, baric, biter, brace, bract, caber, carat, caret, carte, cater, ceiba, ceria, citer, crate, erica, irate, rabat, rabic, react, reata, recta, recti, retia, riata, taber, terai, tiara, trace, triac, tribe, trice. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-b-c-e-i-r-t" | |
+1 letter: aerobatic, bacterial, bacterias, brachiate, calibrate, fabricate. | |
+2 letters: abacterial, abreacting, abreaction, acerbating, aerobatics, bacteremia, brachiated, brachiates, calibrated, calibrates, charitable, fabricated, fabricates. | |
+3 letters: abreactions, abstractive, articulable, bacteremias, bacterially, bacteriuria, bicarbonate, intractable, practicable, recalibrate, trafficable. | |
+4 letters: accreditable, bactericidal, bacteriostat, bacteriurias, bicarbonates, bureaucratic, cabinetmaker, circulatable, distractable, exacerbating, exacerbation, mycobacteria, nonbacterial, prefabricate, recalibrated, recalibrates, scatterbrain, secobarbital, semiabstract, tabernacling, traceability, uncalibrated, uncharitable. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Sounds | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Usage Frequency 11. Expressions 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Translations: Ancient 14. Derivations 15. Rhymes 16. Anagrams | 17. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.