petri dish

noun

pe·tri dish | \ ˈpē-trē-

Definition of petri dish

1 : a small shallow dish of thin glass or plastic with a loose cover used especially for cultures in bacteriology

2 : something (such as a place or situation) that fosters development or innovation the college was a petri dish for radical views

Examples of petri dish in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Another potential concern among returning commuters is the proximity of other passengers, even though transit officials insist trains and buses are not a petri dish for the coronavirus. — Star Tribune, 8 May 2021 Extrapolating from petri dish studies to human infections is difficult, Poinar says. — Kai Kupferschmidt, Science | AAAS, 17 May 2021 The 48-hour time period is derived from a 2016 study of DRE's effect on cancer cells in a petri dish, not in human patients. — Miriam Fauzia, USA TODAY, 5 May 2021 But this observation was based on a petri dish of cancer cells, which is not comparable to cancer in a human body, Siyaram Pandey, professor of chemistry and biochemistry and co-author of the study, told USA TODAY. — Miriam Fauzia, USA TODAY, 5 May 2021 Louise had been conceived in a petri dish in the lab of physiologist Robert Edwards, whose team implanted the embryo in Lesley Brown’s uterus shortly thereafter. — Kiona N. Smith, Forbes, 26 Apr. 2021 These embryos are implanted into the uterus within a day or two after doctors fertilize an egg in a petri dish. — Sahotra Sarkar, The Conversation, 22 Apr. 2021 The staging ground for their relationship squabbles has grown from a petri dish to the cosmos. — Cecilia D'anastasio, Wired, 1 Apr. 2021 But experts are warning that opening too quickly could provide a vast petri dish that new variants of Covid-19 need to thrive. — Tara John, CNN, 3 Mar. 2021

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