tuberculosis
noun
tu·ber·cu·lo·sis
tu̇-ˌbər-kyə-ˈlō-səs 
tyu̇-
plural tuberculoses
tu̇-ˌbər-kyə-ˈlō-ˌsēz
tyu̇-
: 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
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Sarah Fortune, a professor and the chair of the department of immunology and infectious diseases at Harvard’s school of public health, is among the world’s leading experts on tuberculosis, the No. 1 infectious cause of death globally.
—
Atul Gawande, New Yorker, 21 Apr. 2025
Harvard’s School of Public Health, where 46% of the budget comes from federal funding, lost more than $60 million in funding for a tuberculosis research project.
—Kara Scannell, CNN Money, 18 Apr. 2025
For Sarah Fortune, lead scientist on a promising tuberculosis study, even more lives are at stake.
—Meredith Kile, People.com, 17 Apr. 2025
Samuelsson was torn from Ethiopia in 1974, a two-year-old boy in the center of a civil war, sickened by a tuberculosis epidemic.
—Pervaiz Shallwani, Bon Appetit Magazine, 16 Apr. 2025
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Atul Gawande, New Yorker, 21 Apr. 2025
Harvard’s School of Public Health, where 46% of the budget comes from federal funding, lost more than $60 million in funding for a tuberculosis research project.
—Kara Scannell, CNN Money, 18 Apr. 2025
For Sarah Fortune, lead scientist on a promising tuberculosis study, even more lives are at stake.
—Meredith Kile, People.com, 17 Apr. 2025
Samuelsson was torn from Ethiopia in 1974, a two-year-old boy in the center of a civil war, sickened by a tuberculosis epidemic.
—Pervaiz Shallwani, Bon Appetit Magazine, 16 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tuberculosis
Cite this Entry
“Tuberculosis.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tuberculosis. Accessed 25 Apr. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
tuberculosis
noun
tu·ber·cu·lo·sis
t(y)u̇-ˌbər-kyə-ˈlō-səs
: a disease of human beings and some other vertebrates caused by a bacterium and usually marked by wasting, fever, and formation of cheesy tubercles that in human beings occur mostly in the lungs
tuberculous
adjective
t(y)u̇-ˈbər-kyə-ləs
Medical Definition
tuberculosis
noun
tu·ber·cu·lo·sis
t(y)u̇-ˌbər-kyə-ˈlō-səs
plural tuberculoses
-ˌsēz
: 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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