ANTIMICROBIAL

Antimicrobial

An antimicrobial is an agent that kills microorganisms or inhibits their growth. Antimicrobial medicines can be grouped according to the microorganisms they act primarily against. For example, antibacterials are used against bacteria and antifungals are used against fungi. They can also be classed according to their function. Antimicrobials that kill microbes are called microbicidal; those that merely inhibit their growth are called microbiostatic. Disinfectants such as bleach are non-selective antimicrobials.

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antimicrobial

Noun

  1. an agent that destroys microbes, inhibits their growth, or prevents or counteracts their pathogenic action

Adjective

  1. tending to destroy or capable of destroying microbes
  2. inhibiting the growth of microbes
  3. preventing or counteracting the pathogenic action of microbes


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: antimicrobial
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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