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miasma
5 dictionary results for: miasma
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
mi·as·ma       [mahy-az-muh, mee-] Pronunciation Key
–noun, plural -mas, -ma·ta       [-muh-tuh] Pronunciation Key.
1.noxious exhalations from putrescent organic matter; poisonous effluvia or germs polluting the atmosphere.
2.a dangerous, foreboding, or deathlike influence or atmosphere.
[Origin: 1655–65; < NL < Gk míasma stain, pollution, akin to miaínein to pollute, stain]

—Related forms
mi·as·mal, mi·as·mat·ic       [mahy-az-mat-ik] Pronunciation Key, mi·as·mat·i·cal, mi·as·mic, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
mi·as·ma       (mī-āz'mə, mē-)  Pronunciation Key 
n.   pl. mi·as·mas or mi·as·ma·ta (-mə-tə)
  1. A noxious atmosphere or influence: "The family affection, the family expectations, seemed to permeate the atmosphere . . . like a coiling miasma" (Louis Auchincloss).
    1. A poisonous atmosphere formerly thought to rise from swamps and putrid matter and cause disease.
    2. A thick vaporous atmosphere or emanation: wreathed in a miasma of cigarette smoke.


[Greek, pollution, stain, from miainein, to pollute.]

mi·as'mal, mi'as·mat'ic (mī'əz-māt'ĭk), mi·as'mic (-mĭk) adj.
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
miasma 
1665, from Gk. miasma (gen. miasmatos) "stain, pollution," related to miainein "to pollute," from PIE base *mei-/*mai- "to stain, defile" (cf. O.E. mal "stain, mark," see mole (1)).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
miasma

noun
1. an unwholesome atmosphere; "the novel spun a miasma of death and decay" 
2. unhealthy vapors rising from the ground or other sources; "the miasma of the marshes"; "a miasma of cigar smoke" 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Miasma

Mi*as"ma\, n.; pl. Miasmata. [NL., fr. Gr. ? defilement, fr. ? to pollute.] Infectious particles or germs floating in the air; air made noxious by the presence of such particles or germs; noxious effluvia; malaria.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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