dysentery

noun

dys·en·tery | \ ˈdi-sᵊn-ˌter-ē

, -ˌte-rē\

plural dysenteries

Definition of dysentery

1 : a disease characterized by severe diarrhea with passage of mucus and blood and usually caused by infection

2 : diarrhea

Examples of dysentery in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The Europeans who encountered indigenous people in Mexico in the 1500s noted that chocolate was used to treat numerous ailments ranging from dysentery and indigestion, to fatigue and dyspepsia. — Jeffrey Miller, Smithsonian, "Let Us Tell You S’more About America’s Favorite Campfire Treat," 29 June 2018 Africans traditionally ground the seed to help with infections and dysentery. — Mari A. Schaefer, Philly.com, "Should you eat the avocado pit?," 25 June 2018 As soon as the adoring couple arrived in Venice, Sand was attacked by dysentery. — Benita Eisler, WSJ, "‘George Sand’ Review: Monstre Sacré," 8 June 2018 Half of the camp has come down with dysentery & food poisoning. — Phoebe Wall Howard, Detroit Free Press, "Service Diary of a Corpsman: Roy L. Wall, LST 509," 28 May 2018 As for emeralds, Van Cleef knows its way around the stone that was once thought to cure everything from dysentery to paranoia. — Stellene Volandes, Town & Country, "Van Cleef & Arpels Reveals the 46-Piece Emeraude en Majesteé Collection," 1 Nov. 2016 Later researchers discovered that the EHEC and O157 strains of E. coli had gained the gene for Shiga toxinsfrom the dysentery bacterium through a process called horizontal gene transfer. — Scientific American, "Why Are Some E. Coli Strains Deadly While Others Live Peacefully in Our Bodies?," 24 Apr. 2018 Malaria, cholera, dysentery and other diseases were an ever-present threat in these tropical islands. — Neelima Vallangi, Smithsonian, "India’s Abandoned Island of Colonial Horror," 8 May 2018 In Matlab, a part of Bangladesh with good data, deaths from diarrhoea and dysentery have dropped by about 90% since the early 1990s (see chart). — The Economist, "How Bangladesh vanquished diarrhoea," 22 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'dysentery.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.