smallpox
noun
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Definition of smallpox
— called also variola
Examples of smallpox in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The world first eradicated a disease, smallpox, in 1980. — Greg Ip, WSJ, "The World Is Getting Quietly, Relentlessly Better," 2 Jan. 2019 Disgracefully, Franklin then mocked preacher Cotton Mather—a vociferous supporter of inoculation—after Mather lost a daughter and granddaughter to what might have been smallpox. — Sam Kean, WSJ, "‘Young Benjamin Franklin’ Review: Poor Richard Sows His Oats," 17 Sep. 2018 Despite having no evidence of this claim — and the fact that the last known case of smallpox was in Somalia in 1977 — this claim was given airtime on a major news network. — Ed Stetzer, Vox, "Fellow evangelicals: stop falling for Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric," 6 Nov. 2018 Most poignant, when Franklin’s next son, Franky, died of smallpox in November 1736, at age 4, Franklin wrote a stirring defense of inoculation, however unpopular, and later went out of his way to praise his onetime nemesis Mather. — Sam Kean, WSJ, "‘Young Benjamin Franklin’ Review: Poor Richard Sows His Oats," 17 Sep. 2018 However, two children and one adult infected by the same strain of smallpox died soon afterward. — Susan Scutti, Newsweek, "The Only Thing Scarier Than Bio-Warfare is the Antidote," 13 Mar. 2014 Geillis later confesses to being a witch, calling the smallpox vaccination scar on her arm a devil's mark. — Caroline Hallemann, Town & Country, "How Many Time Travelers Do We Know About in Outlander So Far?," 19 Nov. 2018 Even smallpox, whose eradication was one of the greatest achievements of cooperative human endeavor, could return—perhaps through bioterrorism aimed at a world of now-unprotected human beings. — William F. Bynum, WSJ, "‘Between Hope and Fear’ Review: Anxieties Immune to Reason," 16 Aug. 2018 The sharp decline in population wasn't just due to violent deaths, but also diseases brought by the Europeans, including the common cold, flu, measles, venereal diseases, tuberculosis and smallpox. — Aaron Smith, CNN, "The 'forgotten people': When death came to the Torres Strait," 25 May 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'smallpox.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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Dictionary Entries near smallpox
Statistics for smallpox
Last Updated
12 Feb 2019
Look-up Popularity
Time Traveler for smallpox
The first known use of smallpox was circa 1562
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More Definitions for smallpox
smallpox
noun
English Language Learners Definition of smallpox
See the full definition for smallpox in the English Language Learners Dictionary
smallpox
noun
\
Kids Definition of smallpox
smallpox
noun
\
Medical Definition of smallpox
— called also variola
— see variola major, variola minorKeep scrolling for more
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