agar

noun

\ ˈä-gər

Definition of agar

1 : a gelatinous colloidal extract of a red alga (as of the genera Gelidium, Gracilaria, and Eucheuma) used especially in culture media or as a gelling and stabilizing agent in foods

2 : a culture medium containing agar

Examples of agar in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Goops from Fucellaria specifically are known as Danish agar. — Leslie Nemo, Scientific American, "Female Botanist Published the First Ever Photo Book," 29 Mar. 2021 The other day, the whole lab had just 10 routine agar plates, used in screening for bacterial infections. — Emma Court, Bloomberg.com, "U.S. Medical Supply Shortage Plaguing More Than Just Tests for Covid-19," 1 Sep. 2020 The early pathologist added to the porcelain filter experiments with a second kind of filtration system that used a gelatin called agar to prove that no microorganisms survived the first filtration. — Theresa Machemer, Smithsonian Magazine, "How a Few Sick Tobacco Plants Led Scientists to Unravel the Truth About Viruses," 24 Mar. 2020 In the lab, they are fed a standard diet consisting of a slurry of malt, corn meal, yeast, agar and syrup. — Tim Vernimmen, Scientific American, "How Monarch Butterflies Evolved to Eat a Poisonous Plant," 2 Oct. 2019 In a small saucepan, add almond milk, agar agar powder and sugar and whisk. — NBC News, "A light and refreshing summer dessert: Vegan Panna Cotta," 23 June 2019 Eventually, the genomes were sequenced by growing each individual bacterium on a separate agar plate, extracting the DNA, reading the DNA fragments in a sequencer and comparing the sequence with known Streptomyces strains. — Smithsonian, "Soil From a Northern Ireland Graveyard May Lead Scientists to a Powerful New Antibiotic," 19 Dec. 2019 The agar was a kind of stage on which the experiment played out, where cells divided and bacteria and viruses interacted and changed each other. — Eve Fairbanks, The New Republic, "The World in a World Cup," 5 July 2018 But the culture technique — agar in a petri dish – is technology from 1886. — Sandy Bauers, Philly.com, "How high-tech genomics - and simple aspirin - could make your joint replacement better," 17 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'agar.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

5 Apr 2021

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“Agar.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/agar. Accessed 16 Apr. 2021.

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More Definitions for agar

agar

noun

\ ˈäg-ər

Medical Definition of agar

1 : a gelatinous colloidal extract of a red alga (as of the genera Gelidium, Gracilaria, and Eucheuma) used especially in culture media or as a gelling and stabilizing agent in foods

2 : a culture medium containing agar