Definitions

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

  • noun A chemical agent, such as a pesticide, that is capable of destroying living organisms.

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

  • noun Any substance that can destroy living organisms

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

bio- +‎ -cide

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word biocide.

Examples

  • Filtration and a biocide are the answers to biological clogging of micro irrigation systems.

    Food and Farm News 2009

  • Food hygiene is also becoming an important sector in terms of silver demand because silver acts as a 'biocide', a type of bacteria killer.

    MoneyWeek RSS - All 2010

  • I was working with them as an alternative to biocide in cooling towers.

    Ultrasound Makes Catfish Taste Better 2009

  • I was working with them as an alternative to biocide in cooling towers.

    Ultrasound Makes Catfish Taste Better 2009

  • Nanosilver is a powerful biocide that can kill beneficial bacteria in the environment, especially in soil and water, creating an unacceptable toxicity risk to human health and the environment.

    Ronnie Cummins: Top 10 Reasons to Use Organic Cosmetics 2010

  • Nanosilver is a powerful biocide that can kill beneficial bacteria in the environment, especially in soil and water, creating an unacceptable toxicity risk to human health and the environment.

    Ronnie Cummins: Top 10 Reasons to Use Organic Cosmetics 2010

  • Ecocide, or perhaps biocide, or perhaps omnicide, would be an act exterminating not just all humans, but the entire circle of life on planet earth itself.

    Tad Daley: Apollo or Extinction 2009

  • RANDY DEARTH, CEO, LANXESS CORPORATION: We're bringing our biocide technology and trying to simulate what a metalworking fluid bed would be like.

    CNN Transcript Sep 25, 2009 2009

  • Metam sodium is a biocide, causes multiple birth defects, farmworker injuries, and is very toxic to birds and fish.

    We Need Food and Farming Regulation NOW! 2009

  • The chlorine used to bleach the paper fibers is bad enough, but the manufacturing process is also known to release dioxin, a probable carcinogen, as well as tributylin (TBT), a biocide used in paper mills that is highly toxic to wildlife.

    Sloan Barnett: Pooping the Progressive Way 2008

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • A cleanser, soap, or antiseptic.

    June 28, 2008