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In notes taken during a voyage to South America on the HMS Beagle in the 1830s, Charles Darwin described an illness that he believed was caused by "miasma" emanating from stagnant pools of water. For him, miasma had the same meaning that it did when it first appeared in English in the 1600s: an emanation of a vaporous disease-causing substance. (Miasma comes from Greek miainein, meaning "to pollute.") But while Darwin was at sea, broader applications of miasma were starting to spread. Nowadays, we know germs are the source of infection, so we're more likely to use the newer, more figurative sense of miasma, which refers to something destructive or demoralizing that surrounds or permeates.
Examples of miasma in a Sentence
Judith Thurman, New Yorker, 29 Sep. 2025
An evil entity called Magatsu has been spreading its miasma around the world and that has consumed mana.
—Gieson Cacho, Mercury News, 18 Aug. 2025
Commercially confidential plans, fast-changing chip efficiency trends, self-generation and a regulatory landscape that varies with each section line are all contributing to the forecasting miasma.
—Diganta Sengupta, Forbes.com, 14 Aug. 2025
In its time, however, the earlier concept of disease transmission through miasma gave people tools that could also be effective in fighting disease.
—The Editors, JSTOR Daily, 8 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for miasma
Cite this Entry
“Miasma.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/miasma. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
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