Standard Lemma guide

phage

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.

  • /feɪd͡ʒ/
  • rhymes with -eɪdʒ
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: F EY1 JH Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A virus that is parasitic on bacteria.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biology, microbiology, natural-sciences, virology

Examples

  • "The plural word phages refers to different types of phage, whereas in common usage the word phage can be both singular and plural, referring in the plural sense to particles of the same type of phage." Maloy et al: Microbial Genetics, 2nd ed., 1984, →ISBN, p. 81

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a virus that is parasitic (reproduces itself) in bacteria

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • phage uses the bacterium's machinery and energy to produce more phage until the bacterium is destroyed and phage is released to invade surrounding bacteria

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: bacteriophage

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: virus

Narrower terms: coliphage, typhoid bacteriophage

History

Etymology

From Ancient Greek -φάγος (-phágos, “eater”), from φαγ- (phag-), aorist stem of ἐσθίω (esthíō), ἔδω (édō, “to eat, to consume”).