E. coli
noun
plural E. coli
: an enterobacterium (Escherichia coli) that is used in public health as an indicator of fecal pollution (as of water or food) and in medicine and genetics as a research organism and that occurs in various strains that may live as harmless inhabitants of the human lower intestine or may produce a toxin causing intestinal illness see enterobacterium illustration
Examples of E. coli in a Sentence
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Over 40 bills in state legislatures seek to expand raw milk sales, even as a new E. coli outbreak tied to raw milk cheese sickens nine people, including children under age 5.
—
Laura Ungar, Los Angeles Times, 3 May 2026
The researchers took 39 essential or highly expressed E. coli genes and replaced every isoleucine with valine or leucine, like a genetic find-and-replace.
—Jacek Krywko, Scientific American, 30 Apr. 2026
The current bout has sickened nine people with E. coli, half of them children under 5.
—Jim Edwards, Fortune, 30 Apr. 2026
Editing all 4,500 or so genes in E. coli would be a monumental task, and that many changes at once would almost certainly end up killing it, so the researchers started out with much smaller tests.
—ArsTechnica, 30 Apr. 2026
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Laura Ungar, Los Angeles Times, 3 May 2026
The researchers took 39 essential or highly expressed E. coli genes and replaced every isoleucine with valine or leucine, like a genetic find-and-replace.
—Jacek Krywko, Scientific American, 30 Apr. 2026
The current bout has sickened nine people with E. coli, half of them children under 5.
—Jim Edwards, Fortune, 30 Apr. 2026
Editing all 4,500 or so genes in E. coli would be a monumental task, and that many changes at once would almost certainly end up killing it, so the researchers started out with much smaller tests.
—ArsTechnica, 30 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for E. coli
Cite this Entry
“E. coli.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/E.%20coli. Accessed 9 May. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
E. coli
noun
plural E. coli
: a bacterium in the shape of a short rod that may cause intestinal illness
Etymology
short for Escherichia coli, the taxonomic name in biology
Medical Definition
E. coli
nounˌē-ˈkō-ˌlī
plural E. coli also E. colis
: a straight rod-shaped gram-negative bacterium (Escherichia coli of the family Enterobacteriaceae) that is used in public health as an indicator of fecal pollution (as of water or food) and in medicine and genetics as a research organism and that occurs in various strains that may live as harmless inhabitants of the human lower intestine or may produce a toxin causing intestinal illness marked especially by diarrhea
one million acid-resistant E. coli per gram of feces—John Schwartz
John Schwartzthis E. coli can survive … longer than all the other E. colis—Ed Geldreich
Ed GeldreichLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
