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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
Nia Bowers, USA Today, 28 Oct. 2025
Statistical correlations were used to explore how specific gut microbes related to chemical changes in the brain.
—New Atlas, 26 Oct. 2025
The researchers describe it as a living, breathing soil restoration method that lets microbes act as both miners and cleaners.
—Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 24 Oct. 2025
But as the microbes spread across the screen, the visual becomes almost hypnotic—and, as Peck recently told me, akin to how dictators overwhelm people’s abilities to determine fact from fiction.
—Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 21 Oct. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Microbe.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/microbe. Accessed 1 Nov. 2025.
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microbe
noun
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microbe
noun
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