Legionella
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Bacteria of the genus Legionella. countable, uncountable
"Thameslink Train Services Director Rob Mullen responded: "A very low level of legionella was found during testing in a small number of our Class 700 train toilets. While it is extremely unlikely this would cause any harm, the toilets were immediately locked out of use. The trains were taken out of service and these toilets have now been drained, bleached and had their tanks completely re-filled. There is no recorded case of anyone, ever, having contracted legionella from a train.""
- 2 the motile aerobic rod-shaped Gram-negative bacterium that thrives in central heating and air conditioning systems and can cause Legionnaires' disease wordnet
Example
More examples"Legionella bacteria are found naturally in freshwater environments, like lakes and streams."
Etymology
From legion + translingual -ella, from Latin legio. Constructed from "American Legion", after an outbreak of a then-unknown "mystery disease" (Legionnaires' disease) at a convention of the American Legion in Philadelphia in 1976.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.