leprous

[ lep-ruhs ]

adjective

1. Pathology. affected with leprosy.
2. of or resembling leprosy.
3. Botany, Zoology. covered with scales.

leprous

/ ˈlɛprəs /

adjective

1. having leprosy
2. relating to or resembling leprosy
3. biology a less common word for leprose

Derived Forms

• ˈleprousness, noun
• ˈleprously, adverb

Other Words From

• leprous·ly adverb
• leprous·ness noun
• non·leprous adjective
• non·leprous·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of leprous¹

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English word from Late Latin word leprōsus. See leper, -ous

Word History and Origins

Origin of leprous¹

C13: from Old French, from Late Latin leprosus, from lepra leper

Example Sentences

“You’re driving down his price, but what you don’t know, my dear leprous friend Rasseem, is that he is worth more than all the gems in Shah Khosrou’s magic carpet, and he’s twice as fast a mode of travel.”

From Literature

In studies involving nine-banded armadillos, this protein-based vaccine delayed or diminished leprous nerve damage and kept bacteria at bay.

From Salon

Of the Compromise of 1850, which brought California into the union but strengthened the Fugitive Slave Act — arguably the most detested federal law in American history — he stated that it illustrated how “slavery has shot its leprous distillment through the life blood of the nation.”

From Los Angeles Times

In the late 1800s, Louisiana’s top health official falsely blamed the “unprincipled, vicious and leprous hordes of Asia” for spreading the disease.

From Slate

There’s something mordantly catchy about the chorus’s repetitious melody, and the lyrics are full of his trademark hippy phantasmagoria: “Temperature’s dropping at the rotten oasis / Stealing kisses from the leprous faces.”

From The Guardian