RICKETTSIA (rickettsiae)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: rickettsiae   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does rickettsia mean? 

• RICKETTSIA (noun)
  The noun RICKETTSIA has 1 sense:

1. any of a group of very small rod-shaped bacteria that live in biting arthropods (as ticks and mites) and cause disease in vertebrate hosts; they cause typhus and other febrile diseases in human beings

  Familiarity information: RICKETTSIA used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RICKETTSIA (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of a group of very small rod-shaped bacteria that live in biting arthropods (as ticks and mites) and cause disease in vertebrate hosts; they cause typhus and other febrile diseases in human beings

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("rickettsia" is a kind of...):

eubacteria; eubacterium; true bacteria (a large group of bacteria having rigid cell walls; motile types have flagella)

Holonyms ("rickettsia" is a member of...):

family Rickettsiaceae; Rickettsiaceae (microorganism resembling bacteria inhabiting arthropod tissues but capable of causing disease in vertebrates)

Derivation:

rickettsial (relating to or caused by rickettsias)

 Context examples 

Arthritis caused by bacteria, rickettsiae, mycoplasmas, viruses, fungi, or parasites.

(Infective Arthritis, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)