Anaerobic

//ˌænəˈɹoʊbɪk// adj

adj ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Without oxygen; especially of an environment or organism. not-comparable
  2. 2
    Of exercise, involving glycolysis (the conversion of glucose to adenosine triphosphate) rather than using oxygen to supply bodily energy needs. not-comparable
  3. 3
    Of or relating to an anaerobe. not-comparable
Adjective
  1. 1
    living or active in the absence of free oxygen wordnet
  2. 2
    not aerobic wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
anaerobiotic

Example

More examples

"Clostridioides difficile is an example of anaerobic bacteria."

Etymology

From French anaérobie, from Ancient Greek ἀν- (an-, “not”) + ἀήρ (aḗr, “air”) + βίος (bíos, “life”) + -ic. By surface analysis, an- + aerobic.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.