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trench foot
noun
: a painful foot disorder resembling frostbite and resulting from prolonged exposure to cold and wet
Examples of trench foot in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
For many American soldiers, learning about the jungle — including jaguars and trench foot — has meant confronting the limits of American technological prowess, inspiring a greater degree of humility.
—Damien Cave Mark Abramson, New York Times, 15 Dec. 2023
Dire reports warned of unserviceable and overflowing toilets and looming trench foot.
—Jake Sheridan, Chicago Tribune, 10 Sep. 2023
Perspiration needs to be managed; moisture increases the risk of hypothermia and trench foot.
—Danielle Bochove, Natalia Drozdiak, Anchorage Daily News, 19 Mar. 2023
The medics often see people with ailments including trench foot, frostbite, blisters from too-small boots, gout and infected lacerations, Burns says.
—oregonlive, 24 Feb. 2023
Cases of athlete’s foot, corns, toenails that had gone uncut for years and were coiled around and around themselves — all were uncomfortable and easily fixed, as was trench foot.
—Tracy Kidder, New York Times, 5 Jan. 2023
Providers are anecdotally seeing the worst cases of things like trench foot, a type of foot damage from prolonged exposure to cold, damp and unsanitary conditions causing feet to swell and smell like decay.
—Saphara Harrell, oregonlive, 18 Apr. 2021
O’Connell and a colleague later made a small study of death records, which suggested that patients with a history of frostbite — or of trench foot — had a death rate seven times as high as other homeless people of the same age group.
—Tracy Kidder, New York Times, 5 Jan. 2023
And doctors at the Bakhmut hospital said hypothermia and trench foot, a painful skin condition caused by prolonged immersion in cold water, were common among Ukrainian forces, though treated quickly and often at the front line.
—Natalia Yermak, BostonGlobe.com, 27 Nov. 2022
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'trench foot.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1915, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near trench foot
Cite this Entry
“Trench foot.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trench%20foot. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.
Medical Definition
trench foot
noun
: a painful foot disorder resembling frostbite and resulting from exposure to cold and wet
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