microbial

/maɪˈkrəʊbiəl/ (bre, ipa) · /maɪˈkrəʊbiəl/ (ame, ipa)

microbial — adjective

  • microbialpositive
  • more microbialcomparative
  • most microbialsuperlative

1. connected with or caused by living things that are too small to see with your ey

1.形容詞B2
釋義

connected with or caused by living things that are too small to see with your eyes alone — such as bacteria, viruses, or fungi.

例句

The lab tested the drinking water for microbial contamination after the heavy rain.

collocation: microbial contamination

Dr. Okafor's team studied microbial life in the hot springs of Yellowstone.

collocation: microbial life

同義詞
  • bacterial

    specific to bacteria, which are one type of microbe; narrower in scope

  • microscopic

    describes anything too small to see without a microscope, not limited to living things

  • germ-related

    less formal, often used in everyday contexts about disease-causing microbes

反義詞
  • sterile

    completely free of all living microorganisms

  • non-microbial

    not related to or caused by microbes

文法句型

microbial + noun

用法筆記

Most commonly appears before a noun (attributive position), as in 'microbial infection' or 'microbial ecology.' A less common alternative is the predicate use after a linking verb, e.g., 'The contamination was microbial.'

常見錯誤

❌The wound had a microbial infection.
✅The wound had a bacterial infection.
💡'microbial' is broader and more technical; use 'bacterial' when you specifically mean bacteria, not all microbes.
❌This cleaner kills microbial.
✅This cleaner kills microbes.
💡'microbial' is an adjective, not a noun. Use the noun 'microbe(s)' for the living things themselves.