carbapenem

noun

car·​ba·​pen·​em ˌkär-bə-ˈpe-nəm 

: any of a class of broad-spectrum antibiotics (such as imipenem) resistant to hydrolysis by beta-lactamase

Another class of antibiotics, carbapenems, is used as an antibiotic of last resort for the most persistent infections.

—Nicholas Bakalar

Examples of carbapenem in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

If a person gets sick with an infection that can't be treated by many or most common types of antibiotics, carbapenems are used. —Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA Today, 11 Oct. 2025

That includes carbapenems, a class of antibiotics considered a last resort for treatment of serious infections. —Emma Burleigh, Fortune, 24 Sep. 2025

For instance, among isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii, a common cause of nosocomial infections, 68 percent were resistant to carbapenem antibiotics, a class of antibiotics often used as a last-line defense. —Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 11 July 2023

This type of bacteria, resistant to the potent antibiotic carbapenem, infected 8,500 in hospitals and killed 700 in 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. —Ken Alltucker, USA TODAY, 27 May 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1979, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for carbapenem

• imipenem
• denim
• plenum
• venom

Medical Definition

carbapenem

noun

car·​ba·​pen·​em ˌkär-bə-ˈpe-nəm 

: any of a class of broad-spectrum beta-lactam antibiotics (such as imipenem) having a five-membered ring system similar to the penicillins but containing a carbon atom instead of a sulfur atom

It rendered the Klebsiella, which was already resistant to many antibiotics used in critical care medicine, insensitive to the only remaining group that worked reliably and safely—the carbapenems, the so-called drugs of last resort.

—Maryn McKenna, Scientific American