How to Use biofilm in a Sentence

biofilm

noun
  • Baross at the time happened to be studying just such slime, known as a biofilm.
    — Andrew Lawler, Discover Magazine, 22 Nov. 2010
  • In either case, the robot destroys the biofilms in three ways.
    — New Atlas, 28 Mar. 2025
  • The black goo biofilm can be cleaned off with minimal effort.
    — Tim Carter, Hartford Courant, 6 June 2026
  • But when there’s a massive biofilm growing, that is a problem.
    — Chris Gallagher, USA TODAY, 31 July 2024
  • After a few weeks of pouring water over the sand, a gooey biofilm formed on top.
    — Jonathan Schifman, Popular Mechanics, 8 Aug. 2021
  • An absence of biofilms means fouling will never get going in the first place.
    — The Economist, 28 May 2020
  • The biofilm is, in turn, a food bank for an array of animals—from worms and crabs to fish and birds.
    — Paige Embry, Scientific American, 17 June 2020
  • The study found that oyster blood can kill bacterial pathogens in the biofilms.
    — Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 22 Jan. 2025
  • Bogan picked up a rock dotted with snails, which were grazing on the slimy biofilm of microbes.
    — Ian James, AZCentral.com, 8 Sep. 2021
  • The team landed on a biofilm-boosting compound called apigenin.
    — Matt Simon, WIRED, 30 Aug. 2022
  • The most important part of brushing teeth is removing the biofilm of plaque.
    — Tim Newcomb, Popular Mechanics, 21 July 2022
  • Within weeks, biofilms slash water flux by 20-40%.
    — Tejasri Gururaj, Interesting Engineering, 24 Oct. 2025
  • The bacterium was found to multiply in biofilms – slimes that grow on wet surfaces.
    — Robert Promisloff, The Conversation, 19 June 2026
  • At present, the researchers have no idea why the bacteria in biofilms are able to remember like this.
    — Kat Eschner, Popular Science, 29 Apr. 2020
  • Increase their longevity by sanding down the biofilm lurking on the surface.
    — Matt Fuchs, Time, 24 Nov. 2025
  • This biofilm is sandwiched between two mesh electrodes, which transfer the electrons from the biofilm.
    — Miriam Fauzia, Popular Mechanics, 15 Aug. 2022
  • The plaque on your teeth is a biofilm; so too are infections on catheters, the slimy green of pond scum and the gunk clogging your bathtub drain.
    — Carrie Arnold, Quanta Magazine, 2 Nov. 2022
  • The microbes form biofilms, an extra layer of cells, around themselves for protection.
    — George Petras, USA TODAY, 21 Sep. 2024
  • Vets say that brushing is best because the mechanical action is what helps remove the biofilm on your dog’s teeth.
    — Woman's Day, 15 Feb. 2023
  • This process, never before attempted on this scale, reduced the pigmented biofilm to a fine ash.
    — Washington Post, 22 Oct. 2021
  • Some biofilm probably has been present on the memorial’s marble surface from its early years.
    — Washington Post, 22 Oct. 2021
  • Others still, through the formation of colonies called biofilms on the surfaces of soil particles, help trap water in the soil.
    — The Economist, 20 Feb. 2020
  • Studies have shown that microorganisms can become more virulent and form stronger, thicker biofilms in space.
    — Jasmine Laws, MSNBC Newsweek, 20 May 2025
  • By contrast, Villa has found that biofilms seem to impart a protective effect.
    — National Geographic, 21 Sep. 2016
  • Your shower can look clean but still harbor bacteria, mold, and biofilm, which thrive in moist environments.
    — Rae Ford, Martha Stewart, 10 May 2026
  • As the biofilm degrades, sludge settles in a secondary clarifier.
    — Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 18 Dec. 2025
  • Like the biofilm around the rice roots, this mucilage houses nitrogen-fixing bacteria.
    — Matt Simon, WIRED, 30 Aug. 2022
  • After all, a thin layer of mixed bacterial species — called a biofilm — coats every available ocean surface.
    — Bob Holmes, Discover Magazine, 29 Sep. 2021
  • Doniger mentions that her goal is getting her patients to floss and brush for two minutes twice a day to get rid of decay- and dental disease-causing biofilm.
    — NBC News, 5 June 2020
  • Then the biofilms would stop expanding until the glutamate was replenished.
    — Quanta Magazine, 5 Sep. 2017

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'biofilm.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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