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A hint of the Greek word bios, meaning "life", can be seen in microbe. Microbes, or microorganisms, include bacteria, protozoa, fungi, algae, amoebas, and slime molds. Many people think of microbes as simply the causes of disease, but every human is actually the host to billions of microbes, and most of them are essential to our life. Much research is now going into possible microbial sources of future energy; algae looks particularly promising, as do certain newly discovered or created microbes that can produce cellulose, to be turned into ethanol and other biofuels.
Examples of microbe in a Sentence
JSTOR Daily, 17 Oct. 2025
Exposure to toxins and diet in the first decade of life can also affect the microbiome, allowing certain cancer-promoting microbes to take hold.
—Andrea Kane, CNN Money, 16 Oct. 2025
But perhaps most significantly, these changes may be linked to cyanobacteria, toxic microbes often found in polluted waters.
—Pranjal Malewar, New Atlas, 14 Oct. 2025
The gut microbiome is the community of microbes, such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi, that live in your digestive tract and influence other areas of your health.
—Sohaib Imtiaz, Verywell Health, 14 Oct. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Microbe.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/microbe. Accessed 17 Oct. 2025.
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microbe
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microbe
noun
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