influenza
Pathology. an acute, commonly epidemic disease, occurring in several forms, caused by numerous rapidly mutating viral strains and characterized by respiratory symptoms and general prostration.: Compare flu.
Veterinary Pathology. an acute, contagious disease occurring in horses and swine, characterized by fever, depression, and catarrhal inflammations of the eyes, nasal passages, and bronchi, and caused by a virus.
Origin of influenza
1Other words from influenza
- in·flu·en·zal, adjective
- in·flu·en·za·like, adjective
- post·in·flu·en·zal, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use influenza in a sentence
It was pronounced a breeder of influenzas, and the high road to a headache.
The Art of Entertaining | M. E. W. SherwoodExposure to the elements seemed to harm no one, and coughs, influenzas and rheumatics were unknown.
My Friends at Brook Farm | John Van Der Zee SearsIndia-rubber weather-strips have, doubtless, caused ten times as many influenzas as they have prevented.
Homes And How To Make Them | Eugene GardnerThis is perhaps the only special reference to tussis as epidemic until the influenzas of the seventeenth century.
A History of Epidemics in Britain (Volume I of II) | Charles CreightonThe hot agues were febrile influenzas, and the great laske was dysentery.
A History of Epidemics in Britain (Volume I of II) | Charles Creighton
British Dictionary definitions for influenza
/ (ˌɪnflʊˈɛnzə) /
a highly contagious and often epidemic viral disease characterized by fever, prostration, muscular aches and pains, and inflammation of the respiratory passages: Also called: grippe, informal flu
Origin of influenza
1Derived forms of influenza
- influenzal, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for influenza
[ ĭn′flōō-ĕn′zə ]
A highly contagious infectious disease that is caused by any of various viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae and is characterized by fever, respiratory symptoms, fatigue, and muscle pain. It commonly occurs in epidemics, one of which killed 20 million people between 1917 and 1919.
word history
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Cultural definitions for influenza
[ (in-flooh-en-zuh) ]
Commonly called the flu; an acute and infectious disease of the respiratory system caused by a virus and characterized by fever, muscle pain, headache, and inflammation of the mucous membranes in the respiratory tract.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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