Definition of "microbe" []

• A minute life form; a microorganism, especially a bacterium that causes disease. Not in technical use. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "[Footnote: The term microbe is simply a word which has been coined to include all of the microscopic plants commonly included under the terms bacteria and yeasts.] has developed with a marvellous rapidity."
• "In its most general sense, the term microbe designates certain colorless algæ belonging to the family Bacteriaceæ, the principal forms of which are known under the name of _Micrococcus."
• "How do you go about deciding which microbe is the most important?"