Meanings
- Any rod-shaped, gram-positive bacterium, of the genus Listeria, especially those responsible for the bacterial infection listeriosis.
Listeriosis is a foodborne disease caused by listeria bacteria.
2025 January 25, Hanna Ziady, “‘Our innocent kids are struggling.’ Victims of massive listeriosis outbreak say those responsible must ‘do the right thing’”, in CNN1 more example
One of the main reasons fridge temperatures are recommend to be set at 5ºC is because of listeria. Listeria is a food poisoning bacterium that is psychrotrophic – in other words it likes cold temperatures. From the growth models, we know that listeria grows nearly twice as fast at 8°C as it does at 5°C, hence the recommended 5ºC, which helps keep us safe from listeria.
2018 January 15, Kaarin Goodburn, “How chilled is your fridge?”, in Food Standards AgencySynonyms: listerella
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAny rod-shaped, gram-positive bacterium, of the genus Listeria, especially those responsible for the bacterial infection listeriosis.
Origin
From the genus name Listeria.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 李斯特菌
- 李斯特菌 (lǐsītèjūn)bacterium
Finnish listeria
- listeriabacterium
French listéria
- listériabacterium
German Listeria
- Listeriabacterium
Russian листе́рия
- листе́рия (listérija)bacterium
Turkish listeriya
- listeriyabacterium
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with listeria
Cite this entry
listeria. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/listeria
“listeria.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/listeria. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “listeria,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/listeria.
Source: listeria on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.