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smallpox

noun

Simple meaning

A very bad, spreading disease that caused many skin spots and left marks.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

smawlpahks

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈsmɔlpɑks

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. pathology

    An acute, highly infectious often fatal disease caused by Variola virus of the family Poxviridae. It was completely eradicated in the 1970s, but still exists in laboratories. Those who survived were left with pockmarks.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced (estimated)
Frequency
Uncommon
Formality
Technical

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

This meaning: (pathology) An acute, highly infectious often fatal disease caused by Variola virus of the family Poxviridae. It was completely eradicated in the 1970s, but still exists in laboratories. Those who survived were left with pockmarks.

Used this way, smallpox is a specialist word with a faintly unfavourable edge. It carries more force than its gentler alternatives. This is a clinical use: it belongs to medical description, where it is factual rather than emotive.

Emotional tone
Slightly negative
Formality
Specialist/technical
Intensity
Strong
How common
Specialized
Connotation
Critical or judgemental
Usage feel
Clinical and detached

Where it naturally appears

  • Medicine/healthcare
  • Science
  • Technical/specialist writing
  • Family/home

Usage note

In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

smallpox vaccinesmallpox virussmallpox epidemicsmallpox vaccinationsmallpox eradicationlike smallpoxcontracted smallpoxsmallpox inoculation

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • smallpox virusnounCompound term

    The virus that causes smallpox in humans.

  • west indian smallpoxnounCompound term

    A mild form of smallpox caused by a less virulent form of the virus.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: acute

variola

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.