Staphylococcus

//ˌstæfələˈkɔkəs// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A spherical gram-positive parasitic bacterium of the genus Staphylococcus, causing blisters, septicemia, and other infections.

    "This Scottish bacteriologist accidentally discovered the antibiotic penicillin after bacteria-killing fungus formed on staphylococci cultures he had left unattended."

  2. 2
    spherical Gram-positive parasitic bacteria that tend to form irregular colonies; some cause boils or septicemia or infections wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
adenovirusaerobeaerobic bacteriaamebicamoebaanaerobe

Example

More examples

"Drug-resistant superbugs, which can live on flat surfaces, are the most serious worry. Often-lethal microbes like MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, do not respond to standard antibiotics, making it very hard to treat patients who become infected with them."

Etymology

Borrowed from translingual Staphylococcus. By surface analysis, staphylo- + -coccus.

Related phrases

gram positive

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