as in numbness
a lack of emotion or emotional expressiveness
a man of remarkable phlegm, never showing enthusiasm nor displeasure
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Recent Examples of phlegm
Diagnosis of Legionnaires’ disease is made via chest X-ray, urine test and lab analysis of a phlegm sample.
—
Melissa Rudy, FOXNews.com, 20 Aug. 2025
Common causes of brown phlegm include smoking, exposure to toxins or pollutants in the air, cystic fibrosis, and bacterial lung infections.
—Mark Gurarie, Health, 15 June 2025
Signs and symptoms include a cough that lasts for three weeks or longer, coughing up blood or phlegm, chest pain, weakness, fatigue, weight loss, loss of appetite, fever, chills and night sweats, according to the CDC.
—Mary Kekatos, ABC News, 30 Apr. 2025
Common symptoms of pneumonia include chest pain when breathing or coughing; fatigue; fever, sweating and shaking chills; nausea or vomiting; and a cough that produces phlegm, according to the Mayo Clinic.
—Adrianna Rodriguez, USA Today, 2 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for phlegm
Melissa Rudy, FOXNews.com, 20 Aug. 2025
Common causes of brown phlegm include smoking, exposure to toxins or pollutants in the air, cystic fibrosis, and bacterial lung infections.
—Mark Gurarie, Health, 15 June 2025
Signs and symptoms include a cough that lasts for three weeks or longer, coughing up blood or phlegm, chest pain, weakness, fatigue, weight loss, loss of appetite, fever, chills and night sweats, according to the CDC.
—Mary Kekatos, ABC News, 30 Apr. 2025
Common symptoms of pneumonia include chest pain when breathing or coughing; fatigue; fever, sweating and shaking chills; nausea or vomiting; and a cough that produces phlegm, according to the Mayo Clinic.
—Adrianna Rodriguez, USA Today, 2 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for phlegm
Recent Examples of Synonyms for phlegm
Noun
-
Soon, the sensation of numbness spread up the entire left side of my body.—
Lucinda Rosenfeld,
New Yorker,
25 Oct. 2025
-
The patient presented with localized problems with brain or nerve function, such as weakness, numbness, trouble speaking, or loss of coordination in a specific part of the body, rather than a general symptom like headache or dizziness.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
25 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
By upholding his virtue and revealing the emptiness of evil, Ignatius Maloyan earned sainthood, joining the enduring Communion of witnesses.—
Jenni Fink,
MSNBC Newsweek,
31 Oct. 2025
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Critics see gleaming towers rising from desert sand and detect not ambition but emptiness — a city with an unlimited line of credit, but without a soul.—
Bobby Ghosh,
Time,
29 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Their works push back against the coldness of technology, asserting presence, autonomy, and creative resistance.—
Okla Jones,
Essence,
24 Sep. 2025
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Thematically, this episode is awash in the color blue itself, which many fans interpret as symbolizing coldness and detachment from the music industry.—
Jeff Ihaza,
Rolling Stone,
23 Sep. 2025
Noun
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But several visitors also expressed apathy.—
Gloria Liu,
Outside Online,
22 Oct. 2025
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In times of increasing cynicism and apathy in the zeitgeist, this phantasm extravaganza — at once humorously deadpan in its playful tableaus and poignantly sincere at its emotional core — feels like a breath of fresh air.—
Ryan Lattanzio,
IndieWire,
21 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Phlegm.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/phlegm. Accessed 5 Nov. 2025.
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