Germ

Definitions

1. The small mass of cells from which a new organism develops; a seed, bud, spore, or zygote.
2. The embryo of a seed, especially of a seed used as a cereal or grain. See Wikipedia article on cereal germ.
3. a German person.
   UK, derogatory, slang
4. The small mass of cells from which a part of an organism develops, or a macroscopic but immature form of that part; a bud.
5. A pathogen: a pathogenic microorganism, such as a bacterium or virus.
6. The origin or earliest version of an idea or project.
   figuratively
7. An equivalence class that includes a specified function defined in an open neighborhood.

Equivalents

Examples

“surgical removal of germs of wisdom teeth”

“'This again,' said the Bacteriologist, slipping a glass slide⟳ under the microscope, 'is a preparation of the celebrated Bacillus of cholera - the cholera germ.'”

“the germ of civil liberty”

“Now all his ponderings, however excursive, wheeled round Isabel as their center; and back to her they came again from every excursion; and again derived some new, small germs for wonderment.”

“What greatness had not floated on the ebb of that river into the mystery of an unknown earth? - the dreams of men, the seed of commonwealths, the germs of empires.”

CEFR level