Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various organisms, especially certain archaea, bacteria, and fungi, that thrive at low temperatures between about 10°C and 20°C.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An organism that can live and thrive at temperatures much lower than normal; a form of extremophile.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

psychro- + -phile

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Examples

  • a so-called "psychrophile" or a cold-loving bacterium that is known to leave a reddish tinge on the sea ice it sometimes inhabits in polar regions.

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