petri dish

Thân thiện

A scientist places a sample into a petri dish in the laboratory.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • A shallow, circular, transparent dish with a flat lid, used in laboratories to culture microorganisms, such as bacteria or cells, on a growth medium (like agar).

Usage

• The primary use of a petri dish is in scientific research, particularly in microbiology, to grow and study microorganisms.
• It is a standard piece of laboratory equipment for isolating bacterial colonies, testing antibiotic sensitivity, or observing fungal growth.

Examples

• Noun:
  • The scientist placed the sample in a petri dish containing nutrient agar.
  • After incubation, several bacterial colonies were visible in the petri dish.

Advanced Usage

• Metaphorical Use: In broader contexts, "petri dish" can metaphorically describe an environment or situation that fosters rapid development, experimentation, or proliferation, often of ideas, trends, or social phenomena.
  • The city's vibrant arts district became a petri dish for new musical genres.
  • The online forum was a petri dish of conspiracy theories.

Variants and Related Words

• Culture dish: A more general synonym for a dish used to grow biological cultures.
• Agar plate: A specific term for a petri dish filled with a solidified agar-based growth medium.

Synonyms

• Culture plate
• Biological dish

Notes

• The term is named after the German bacteriologist Julius Richard Petri, who invented it in the late 19th century.
• It is almost always used in the context of biological or medical science, though its metaphorical use is increasingly common in social and cultural commentary.

Học thuật

Noun

1. a shallow dish used to culture bacteria

Từ đồng nghĩa

• petri dish