Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Pertaining to or of the nature of a germicide; germ-killing: as, germicidal gases.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective (Biol.) Destructive to germs; -- applied to any agent which has a killing action upon living microorganisms, particularly bacteria or viruses, which are the cause of many infectious diseases.

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

  • adjective that kills pathogenic organisms; disinfectant

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective preventing infection by inhibiting the growth or action of microorganisms

Etymologies

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Examples

  • These are (1) the production in the blood of an antidote to the toxin or poison elaborated by the invading microbe -- an antitoxin, which chemically neutralises the toxin; (2) the production in the blood of the attacked animal of a "germicidal" poison which repels and kills the attacking microbes themselves (not merely neutralising their poisonous products); (3) the extermination of the intrusive, disease-producing microbes by a kind of police, which scour the blood channels and tissues and "eat up" -- actually engulf and digest -- the hostile intruders.

    More Science From an Easy Chair 1888

  • Contaminated water enters the AquaIris, passes over a removable/re-usable filter, then travels under a layer of ‘converter crystals’ where germicidal UVC rays purify the water molecules as they pass by.

    Daniel Flahiff | Inhabitat 2009

  • The current approaches -- hand washing with soap and use of alcohol rubs -- have limited germicidal effectiveness, take too long minutes for hand washing, 30 seconds for rubs and irritate the hands due to persistent contact dermatitis, so they cannot be practically used in the WHO defined mode.

    Judith Johnson: Why Hospitals Are The Worst Place To Be When You Are Sick (Part 2) Judith Johnson 2011

  • The current approaches -- hand washing with soap and use of alcohol rubs -- have limited germicidal effectiveness, take too long minutes for hand washing, 30 seconds for rubs and irritate the hands due to persistent contact dermatitis, so they cannot be practically used in the WHO defined mode.

    Judith Johnson: Why Hospitals Are The Worst Place To Be When You Are Sick (Part 2) Judith Johnson 2011

  • The current approaches -- hand washing with soap and use of alcohol rubs -- have limited germicidal effectiveness, take too long minutes for hand washing, 30 seconds for rubs and irritate the hands due to persistent contact dermatitis, so they cannot be practically used in the WHO defined mode.

    Judith Johnson: Why Hospitals Are The Worst Place To Be When You Are Sick (Part 2) Judith Johnson 2011

  • Residents are encouraged to wear surgical masks and to wash their hands often with germicidal gel to prevent the spread of disease.

    Illnesses Surge Among Quake Victims Gordon Fairclough 2011

  • The current approaches -- hand washing with soap and use of alcohol rubs -- have limited germicidal effectiveness, take too long minutes for hand washing, 30 seconds for rubs and irritate the hands due to persistent contact dermatitis, so they cannot be practically used in the WHO defined mode.

    Judith Johnson: Why Hospitals Are The Worst Place To Be When You Are Sick (Part 2) Judith Johnson 2011

  • He tries to form a mental picture of Frankie embalming the widow's husband, washing the old man's body with germicidal soap, draining his blood and replacing it with embalming fluid to preserve the tissues.

    FUNERAL 2010

  • BTW I just saw a germicidal lamp at the shop Handy Mail office for only

    Windows Vista and Telmex Prodigy 2007

  • I do not certainly deny that at minimal germicidal concentration a fluoridated toothpaste prevents tartar because fluoride kills bacteria but I find simply ridiculous thinking that the addition of a pesticide to the drinking water can prevent aluminium smelters and charcoal power generation plants from emitting toxic chemicals in the air.

    General Jack D. Ripper had a point.... doyle 2009

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