germ

• All these duties imply a close devotion to home: for here is the germ which is to grow into good or into evil, as it is nursed and cultivated, or wickedly neglected. —  The Memories of Fifty Years
• "What if they used gas, or a germ -- certain kinds of infective radiation?" questioned Dard. —  The Stars Are Ours
• Nevertheless it will be instructive to glance at the theories which have been put forward to explain this matter All living things spring from a small germ, and in the vast majority of cases this germ is the product in part of the male and in part of the female parent. —  Science and Morals and Other Essays
• It may not be widespread, and it certainly hardly exists above the working classes, yet I feel that the germ is there — and who can say how far it is doomed to flourish, or whether it will die away .... —  Lady John Russell
• All living things spring from a small germ, and in the vast majority of cases this germ is the product in part of the male and in part of the female parent. —  Science and Morals and Other Essays

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the Same Context