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antibiotic Definition

☆ anti·bi·otic (-bī ät′ik, -bē-)

adjective

  1. of antibiosis
  2. destroying bacteria and other microorganisms or inhibiting their growth
  3. of antibiotics

noun

any of certain chemical substances produced by various microorganisms, specif. bacteria, fungi, and actinomycetes, and having the capacity, in dilute solutions, to inhibit the growth of or to destroy bacteria and other microorganisms: the antibiotics, including penicillin, streptomycin, and tetracycline, are used in the treatment of various infectious diseases

antibiotic Synonyms

antibiotic

n.

antimicrobial, antitoxin, wonder drug, miracle drug, bacteriostat; see also medicine 2.

Common antibiotics include: bacitracin, chlortetracycline, erythromycin, mycomycin, neomycin, nystatin, penicillin, amoxicillin, ampicillin, tetracycline, streptomycin

antibiotic Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • prescribe: He also tried prescribing antibiotics which were not helpful.
  • administer: In case of mastitis, a cow will normally be administered an antibiotic.

Adjective modifier

  • prophylactic: Preventing infection: prophylactic antibiotics are not indicated for superficial burns.
  • intravenous: Standard policy in most hospitals is that women who carry GBS have a hospital birth with intravenous antibiotics during labor.
  • topical: The topical steroid may be combined with a topical antibiotic.
  • systemic: The decision on how long systemic antibiotics are taken depends on on how the infection responds to treatment.
  • injectable: Individual cases require therapy with a course of injectable antibiotics, for example, a three day course of penicillin.
  • parenteral: Outcome measures The main outcomes measured by the study selected for analysis were worsening of respiratory symptoms requiring parenteral antibiotics, and lung function.

Modifies a noun

  • prophylaxis: CSF shunt surgery Antibiotic prophylaxis has no clear benefit in CSF shunt surgery.
  • resistance: Development of novel therapeutic regimes to overcome antibiotic resistance in bacteria.
  • ointment: A course of antibiotic eye ointment may be prescribed.
  • gene: Early in the GE process, antibiotic resistance marker genes are used to ' mark ' GE crops, for example.
  • regimen: Little information on the cost of the antibiotic regimens examined was provided in the RCTs included in the review.
  • therapy: None of the organic farms used antibiotic dry cow therapy on a routine basis.

Noun used with modifier

  • broad-spectrum: In most instances the disease will respond if the secondary causes are treated and a broad-spectrum antibiotic is used.
  • macrolide: Tylosin is a macrolide antibiotic which acts by interfering with bacterial protein synthesis.
  • aminoglycoside: Aminoglycosides Antibiotics are a group of drugs which treat bacterial infections, ranging from quite mild infections to serious, life-threatening diseases.
  • beta-lactam: Avoid flucloxacillin in people with a history of hypersensitivity to beta-lactam antibiotics ( e.g. penicillins, cephalosporins ).
  • quinolone: There are at least a dozen other quinolone antibiotics on the market.
  • spectrum: The clinical course progressed while patients being treated with wide spectrum antibiotics.