Andromeda strain

noun

Any microorganism whose release and spread could cause a public health catastrophe.

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Meanings

nounAndromeda strain (plural Andromeda strains)

plural Andromeda strains

  1. Any microorganism whose release and spread could cause a public health catastrophe.

    John Langone, a science writer for Discover magazine, characterizes the popular view of AIDS in 1985 as an “Andromeda strain with the transmission efficiency of the common cold.”

    2004, David Gere, How to Make Dances in an Epidemic
    1 more example

    Trout are important to those of us who enjoy angling, but trout are unimportant if this Andromeda Strain of destruction without replacement—which began more than 200 years ago and burgeoned in the twentieth century—continues.

    1977, Frank Woolner, Trout Hunting, page 215

Origin

After The Andromeda Strain (1969), techno-thriller novel by Michael Crichton documenting the efforts of a team of scientists investigating the outbreak of a deadly extraterrestrial microorganism in Arizona.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Andromeda strain. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Andromeda%20strain

MLA

“Andromeda strain.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Andromeda%20strain. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Andromeda strain,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Andromeda%20strain.

Source: Andromeda strain on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.