pathogenic

adjective path·o·gen·ic \ ˌpa-thə-ˈje-nik \

|Updated on: 26 May 2018

Definition of pathogenic

1 : pathogenetic 1

2 : causing or capable of causing disease

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pathogenicity

play \ˌpa-thə-jə-ˈni-sə-tē\ noun

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Recent Examples of pathogenic from the Web

From the fecal samples, scientists were able to determine that 37% of mice harbored at least one potentially pathogenic bacterium.

— melanie grayce west, WSJ, "Mice in New York Carry Rare and Dangerous Diseases, Study Finds," 17 Apr. 2018
Different forms of suPAR can circulate in the blood, and some variants might be more pathogenic than whole suPAR.

— stephen s. hall, Science | AAAS, "What's your risk of kidney disease, heart attack, or diabetes? A single molecule can tell," 19 Apr. 2018
Baines, who was not involved in the research, explained that within some groups of bacteria, there are many different members, some pathogenic (or disease-causing), others harmless.

— susan scutti, CNN, "New viruses, superbugs found in study of New York house mice," 17 Apr. 2018
For the immunosuppressed, ill or very old, mice with pathogenic microbes can be especially dangerous.

— melanie grayce west, WSJ, "Mice in New York Carry Rare and Dangerous Diseases, Study Finds," 17 Apr. 2018
The committee cited a potential risk of transferring pathogenic organisms from the woman to the neonate.

— jane e. brody, New York Times, "The Importance of Infants’ Exposure to Micro-Organisms," 5 Feb. 2018
Modern standards of dairy plant design require storage tanks to be physically separated to minimize the risk of pathogenic bacteria from raw milk cross-contaminating finished dairy products and causing consumer illness and potential product recalls.

— karen herzog, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "$220 million building boom on UW-Madison campus will modernize chemistry and agriculture facilities," 5 Apr. 2018
As the illness progresses, gut tissue becomes increasingly inflamed and often starts to die, which can, in turn, rupture the intestine and flood the abdominal cavity with pathogenic microbes that proliferate to dangerous levels.

— ferris jabr, Scientific American, "Do Probiotics Really Work?," 1 July 2017
Although no one realized it at the time, the beer-making process cleansed the otherwise fetid water, killing myriad pathogenic microorganisms, and even provided nourishment.

— john perritano, Popular Mechanics, "How the Founding Fathers Made Their Beer," 25 June 2013

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