Superbug
An informal term for a bacterium that has become resistant to antibiotics usually used to treat it, as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) or any multiresistant bacterium.
“A drug-resistant superbug that spreads by skin contact is infecting thousands of people across the US and may now have reached Europe.” (New Scientist March 5, 2003)
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- Supercilious
Arrogant, haughty or disdainful. From the raising of an eyebrow (“supercilium” in Latin). Supercilious is an example of a word derived from anatomy that has lost its anatomic meaning but been retained for its figurative sense.
- Superfetation
An extremely rare situation in which a pregnant woman becomes pregnant a second time with another (younger) fetus. Superfetation is characterized by the fertilization and the implantation of a second oocyte in a uterus already containing the product of a previous conception. Superfetation is different from the process of twinning or multiple gestation and involves […]
- Superficial
In anatomy, on the surface or shallow. As opposed to deep. The skin is superficial to the muscles. The cornea is on the superficial surface of the eye. For a more complete listing of terms used in medicine for spatial orientation, please see the entry to “Anatomic Orientation Terms”.
- Superficial spreading melanoma
One of the four clinical types of malignant melanoma, the most common type in white people, which typically presents as a raised, irregular, colored area that starts in a mole-like shape and spreads across the skin.
- Superfluous
Beyond what is sufficient. A sixth finger is superfluous.