germ

Plural: germs

Noun

• A microorganism, especially one that causes disease.
• anything that provides inspiration for later work
• a small apparently simple structure (as a fertilized egg) from which new tissue can develop into a complete organism
• a minute life form (especially a disease-causing bacterium); the term is not in technical use
• The small mass of cells from which a new organism develops; a seed, bud, spore, or zygote.
• The embryo of a seed, especially of a seed used as a cereal or grain. See Wikipedia article on cereal germ.
• The small mass of cells from which a new organism develops; a seed, bud, spore, or zygote.
• The small mass of cells from which a part of an organism develops, or a macroscopic but immature form of that part; a bud.
• A pathogen: a pathogenic microorganism, such as a bacterium or virus.
• The origin or earliest version of an idea or project.
• An equivalence class that includes a specified function defined in an open neighborhood.

Verb

• To germinate.
• To grow, as if parasitic.

Examples

• He tried to prevent the GERM of a good word from spreading to his opponent.
• surgical removal of germs of wisdom teeth
• the germ of civil liberty

Synonyms

bug, microbe, seed, source

Related Words

bacteria, german, germane, germen, germinate, germination, microbe, parasite, virus