Word
abacterial
Phoneticsabac·te·ri·al
Definition
adj. describing something that does not have any bacteria in it. It is often used to talk about medical conditions where doctors cannot find a bacterial cause.
adj. characterised by the absence of bacteria; sterile. Often used in clinical contexts to describe inflammatory conditions where no bacterial pathogen is detectable.
Examples
“The test results show that the infection is abacterial.”
“The patient was diagnosed with abacterial prostatitis after multiple cultures failed to grow any harmful organisms.”
“While the symptoms mirrored a typical infection, the abacterial nature of the sample suggested that the inflammation was likely caused by a chemical irritant rather than a biological agent.”
Examples
simple
“The test results show that the infection is abacterial.”
contextual
“The patient was diagnosed with abacterial prostatitis after multiple cultures failed to grow any harmful organisms.”
complex
“While the symptoms mirrored a typical infection, the abacterial nature of the sample suggested that the inflammation was likely caused by a chemical irritant rather than a biological agent.”
Usage
Typically used as a predicative or attributive adjective in medical and scientific registers.
Etymology
From a- (“without”) + bacterial.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.