Germ

Quick meaning: Germ is a noun meaning (biology) The small mass of cells from which a new organism develops; a seed, bud, spore, or zygote.

Meaning

(biology) The small mass of cells from which a new organism develops; a seed, bud, spore, or zygote.

More Meanings

1. A pathogen: a pathogenic microorganism, such as a bacterium or virus.
2. (figurative) The origin or earliest version of an idea or project.
3. (mathematics) An equivalence class that includes a specified function defined in an open neighborhood.
4. To germinate.
5. (slang) To grow, as if parasitic.

Example Sentences

the germ of civil liberty

I’m addicted, want to germ inside your love

Thus tempted, the lust to avenge me / Germed inly and grew.

'This again,' said the Bacteriologist, slipping a glass slide under the microscope, 'is a preparation of the celebrated Bacillus of cholera - the cholera germ.'

Word Forms

• germs
• germing
• germed

Synonyms for germ

Depending on context, synonyms include source, bug, seed, microbe.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include seed, microbe, bug, source, sprout, germination.

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