smallpox — English Dictionary

Noun

1. An acute, highly infectious often fatal disease caused by Variola virus of the family Poxviridae. It was completely eradicated in the 1970s, but still exists in laboratories. Those who survived were left with pockmarks.

   Usage

   • Uncountable
   • usually

   Synonyms

   variola

   Examples

   The Europeans brought new diseases such as smallpox, measles, dysentery, influenza, syphilis and leprosy.

   More examples (1)

   We know that the most deadly of the early epidemics in America were those of the eruptive fevers—smallpox, measles, typhus, and so on. The first to arrive and the deadliest, said contemporaries, was smallpox.

   Can't make it in today, Mr. Smithers; I have smallpox. Well it wasn't wiped out in my house!

Noun

1. a highly contagious viral disease characterized by fever and weakness and skin eruption with pustules that form scabs that slough off leaving scars

   Synonyms

   variolavariola major

   Broader terms

   pox