Standard Lemma guide

listeria

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: /lɪˈsteːɹi.ə/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɪɹiə
  • rhymes with -ɪəɹiə
  • CMU ARPABET: L IH0 S T IH1 R IY0 AH0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any rod-shaped, gram-positive bacterium, of the genus Listeria, especially those responsible for the bacterial infection listeriosis.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: listerella

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

any species of the genus Listeria

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: eubacteria, eubacterium, true bacteria

Narrower terms: Listeria monocytogenes, L. monocytogenes

History

Etymology

From the genus name Listeria.

Across languages

Translations

6 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 李斯特菌 (lǐsītèjūn) — bacterium
  • Finnish: listeria — bacterium
  • French: listéria — bacterium
  • German: Listeria — bacterium
  • Russian: листе́рия (listérija) — bacterium
  • Turkish: listeriya — bacterium