microbiology
n.the study of tiny living things that are too small to see without a microscope, like bacteria and viruses.
n.the branch of biology concerned with the study of microscopic organisms, including bacteria, viruses, archaea, fungi, and protozoa.
“She is studying microbiology to understand how bacteria grow.”
“Advances in microbiology have allowed researchers to develop more effective antibiotics against resistant strains of bacteria.”
“The curriculum integrates microbiology with immunology to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of how microscopic pathogens interact with the human immune system.”
Uncountable when referring to the academic field; can be countable when referring to the specific microbial life of a particular environment.
“I’m a professor at the Indiana University School of Medicine, where my laboratory studies microbiology and infectious disease .”
“Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology had developed methods sensitive enough to detect very small amounts of RNA in bacterial cells.”
Common in science writing
From micro- + biology.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.