PNEUMONIC PLAGUE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does pneumonic plague mean? 

• PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (noun)
  The noun PNEUMONIC PLAGUE has 1 sense:

1. a rapidly progressive and frequently fatal form of the plague that can spread through the air from person to person; characterized by lung involvement with chill, bloody expectoration and high fever

  Familiarity information: PNEUMONIC PLAGUE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A rapidly progressive and frequently fatal form of the plague that can spread through the air from person to person; characterized by lung involvement with chill, bloody expectoration and high fever

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

plague pneumonia; pneumonic plague; pulmonic plague

Hypernyms ("pneumonic plague" is a kind of...):

pest; pestilence; pestis; plague (a serious (sometimes fatal) infection of rodents caused by Yersinia pestis and accidentally transmitted to humans by the bite of a flea that has bitten an infected animal)

 Context examples 

It is manifested as a bubonic, septicemic, or pneumonic plague.

(Plague, NCI Thesaurus)

Pneumonic plague is the most serious form. Bacteria enter the lungs and cause pneumonia.

(Plague, NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)

In pneumonic plague, the infection spreads to the lungs either following bubonic plague, or by inhalation of infective droplets.

(Plague, NCI Thesaurus)