BUBONIC PLAGUE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does bubonic plague mean? 

• BUBONIC PLAGUE (noun)
  The noun BUBONIC PLAGUE has 1 sense:

1. the most common form of the plague in humans; characterized by chills, prostration, delirium and the formation of buboes in the armpits and groin; does not spread from person to person

  Familiarity information: BUBONIC PLAGUE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BUBONIC PLAGUE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The most common form of the plague in humans; characterized by chills, prostration, delirium and the formation of buboes in the armpits and groin; does not spread from person to person

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

bubonic plague; glandular plague; pestis bubonica

Hypernyms ("bubonic plague" is a kind of...):

pest; pestilence; pestis; plague (a serious (sometimes fatal) infection of rodents caused by Yersinia pestis and accidentally transmitted to humans by the bite of a flea that has bitten an infected animal)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bubonic plague"):

ambulant plague; ambulatory plague; pestis ambulans (a mild form of bubonic plague)

Black Death; Black Plague (the epidemic form of bubonic plague experienced during the Middle Ages when it killed nearly half the people of western Europe)

 Context examples 

In bubonic plague, the lymph nodes adjacent to the site of the skin bite are infected and enlarged.

(Plague, NCI Thesaurus)

Bubonic plague causes the tonsils, adenoids, spleen, and thymus to become inflamed. Symptoms include fever, aches, chills, and tender lymph glands.

(Plague, NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)

In pneumonic plague, the infection spreads to the lungs either following bubonic plague, or by inhalation of infective droplets.

(Plague, NCI Thesaurus)