SMALLPOX

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does smallpox mean? 

• SMALLPOX (noun)
  The noun SMALLPOX has 1 sense:

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

  Familiarity information: SMALLPOX used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SMALLPOX (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

smallpox; variola; variola major

Hypernyms ("smallpox" is a kind of...):

pox (a contagious disease characterized by purulent skin eruptions that may leave pock marks)

Meronyms (parts of "smallpox"):

pock (a pustule in an eruptive disease)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "smallpox"):

alastrim; Cuban itch; Kaffir pox; milk pox; pseudosmallpox; pseudovariola; variola minor; West Indian smallpox; white pox (a mild form of smallpox caused by a less virulent form of the virus)

 Context examples 

Scientists worry that anthrax, botulism, Ebola and other hemorrhagic fever viruses, plague, or smallpox could be used as biological agents.

(Biodefense and Bioterrorism, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Smallpox in ’Onolulu, two broken legs in Shanghai, pnuemonia in Unalaska, three busted ribs an’ my insides all twisted in ’Frisco.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Originally developed for the eradication of smallpox, MVA is a highly attenuated and replication-defective strain incapable of virion assembly and exerts potent immunostimulatory activity against antigens.

(MVA-MUC1-IL2 Vaccine, NCI Thesaurus)

The African green monkey has been in use in scientific research since the 1950s and its tissues are used to produce vaccines for polio and smallpox.

(African Green Monkey, NCI Thesaurus)