GUINEA WORM

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does Guinea worm mean? 

• GUINEA WORM (noun)
  The noun GUINEA WORM has 2 senses:

1. a painful and debilitating infestation contracted by drinking stagnant water contaminated with Guinea worm larvae that can mature inside a human's abdomen until the worm emerges through a painful blister in the person's skin

2. parasitic roundworm of India and Africa that lives in the abdomen or beneath the skin of humans and other vertebrates

  Familiarity information: GUINEA WORM used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GUINEA WORM (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A painful and debilitating infestation contracted by drinking stagnant water contaminated with Guinea worm larvae that can mature inside a human's abdomen until the worm emerges through a painful blister in the person's skin

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

dracunculiasis; Guinea worm; Guinea worm disease

Hypernyms ("Guinea worm" is a kind of...):

infestation (the state of being invaded or overrun by parasites)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Parasitic roundworm of India and Africa that lives in the abdomen or beneath the skin of humans and other vertebrates

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

Dracunculus medinensis; Guinea worm

Hypernyms ("Guinea worm" is a kind of...):

nematode; nematode worm; roundworm (unsegmented worms with elongated rounded body pointed at both ends; mostly free-living but some are parasitic)

Holonyms ("Guinea worm" is a member of...):

Dracunculus; genus Dracunculus (type genus of the family Dracunculidae)