tuberculosis
noun
tu·ber·cu·lo·sis
| \ tu̇-ˌbər-kyə-ˈlō-səs
, tyu̇-\
, tyu̇-\
plural tuberculoses\ tu̇-ˌbər-kyə-ˈlō-ˌsēz
, tyu̇- \
, tyu̇- \
Definition of tuberculosis
: a highly variable communicable disease of humans and some other vertebrates that is caused by the tubercle bacillus and rarely in the U.S. by a related mycobacterium (Mycobacterium bovis), that affects especially the lungs but may spread to other areas (such as the kidney or spinal column), and that is characterized by fever, cough, difficulty in breathing, formation of tubercles, caseation, pleural effusions, and fibrosis
Examples of tuberculosis in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis infected an estimated 558,000 people in 2017. — Beth Mole, Ars Technica, "How a new antibiotic destroys extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis," 16 Aug. 2019 The Food and Drug Administration has approved pretomanid to treat drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis. — Los Angeles Times, "FDA approves tuberculosis drug that works on hard-to-treat cases," 14 Aug. 2019 European diseases, like measles and tuberculosis, made their way to Greenland in the 17th and 18th centuries, as Denmark started to colonize the island. — Anna Diamond, Smithsonian, "Why Don’t People Smile in Old Photographs? And More Questions From Our Readers," 11 July 2019 About a month later, in part through their efforts, Hamied received an invitation to speak at the European Commission’s conference in Brussels on HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and poverty reduction. — Katherine Eban, Quartz India, "How an Indian tycoon fought Big Pharma to sell AIDS drugs for $1 a day," 15 July 2019 Some are contagious with tuberculosis, chicken pox, strep throat or fever and are being quarantined and treated. — Logan Jaffe, ProPublica, "Tuberculosis. Chicken Pox. Traumatized: 5 Updates on Immigrant Youth Shelters in Illinois.," 12 July 2019 That’s three times more deaths than from AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined, and 15 times more than from wars and other violence. — Adam Rogers, WIRED, "A Global Pollution Observatory Hunts for Hidden Killers," 8 July 2019 Health seekers hoped to recover from tuberculosis and other maladies. — Roger Showley, San Diego Union-Tribune, "250 years of San Diego," 30 June 2019 Epidemiologic studies of homeless populations have found higher prevalence of HIV, hepatitis, tuberculosis and scabies. — Chris Woodyard, USA TODAY, "As homeless are suffering, risk of hepatitis, typhus and other diseases is growing," 18 June 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'tuberculosis.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for tuberculosis
tuberculosis
noun
English Language Learners Definition of tuberculosis
medical
: a serious disease that mainly affects the lungs
See the full definition for tuberculosis in the English Language Learners Dictionary
tuberculosis
noun
tu·ber·cu·lo·sis
| \ tu̇-ˌbər-kyə-ˈlō-səs
, tyu̇-\
, tyu̇-\
Kids Definition of tuberculosis
: a serious disease that mostly affects the lungs and in which there is fever, cough, and difficulty in breathing
tuberculosis
noun
tu·ber·cu·lo·sis
| \ t(y)u̇-ˌbər-kyə-ˈlō-səs
\
\
plural tuberculoses\ -ˌsēz
\
\
Medical Definition of tuberculosis
: a usually chronic highly variable disease that is caused by a bacterium of the genus Mycobacterium (M. tuberculosis) and rarely in the United States by a related mycobacterium (M. bovis), is usually communicated by inhalation of the airborne causative agent, affects especially the lungs but may spread to other areas (as the kidney or spinal column) from local lesions or by way of the lymph or blood vessels, and is characterized by fever, cough, difficulty in breathing, inflammatory infiltrations, formation of tubercles, caseation, pleural effusion, and fibrosis
— called also TB
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