noun · neutral
antibiotic
UK/ˌæn.ti.baɪˈɒt.ɪk/US/ˌæn.ti.baɪˈɑː.t̬ɪk/an·ti·BI·ot·ic
Band 5-6task2speaking
a drug used to treat bacterial infections
Examples
“The doctor prescribed an antibiotic for her throat infection.”
“Overuse of antibiotics can lead to resistant bacteria.”
“Some infections are viral and do not respond to antibiotics.”
Band 8 sentence
“Doctors must avoid prescribing antibiotics unnecessarily to slow the emergence of resistant strains.”
Collocations
- prescribe antibiotics
- antibiotic resistance
- broad‑spectrum antibiotic
Word family
antibiotics noun (plural)antibacterial adjective
Common mistakes
use 'antibiotics' for viral infections→not to use antibiotics for viruses
say 'a antibiotics' or 'an antibioticss'→an antibiotic / antibiotics
Say it for a higher band
5medicine→6pills→7+antibiotic
Synonyms
medicine
Easily confused
antiviral
“The doctor recommended an antiviral drug for the influenza infection.”
Related words
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In Health & Fitness
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