Listeria

//lɪˈsteːɹi.ə// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Any rod-shaped, gram-positive bacterium, of the genus Listeria, especially those responsible for the bacterial infection listeriosis.

    "One of the main reasons fridge temperatures are recommend to be set at 5ºC is because of listeria. Listeria is a food poisoning bacterium that is psychrotrophic – in other words it likes cold temperatures. From the growth models, we know that listeria grows nearly twice as fast at 8°C as it does at 5°C, hence the recommended 5ºC, which helps keep us safe from listeria."

  2. 2
    any species of the genus Listeria wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
listerella

Example

More examples

"Food safety experts say cantaloupes have been involved in nearly 40 outbreaks of foodborne disease over the past 20 years, but this is the first time the melons have been tainted by listeria."

Etymology

From the genus name Listeria.

Related phrases

gram positive

More for "listeria"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

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