tubercular

[ too-bur-kyuh-ler, tyoo- ]

adjective

1. pertaining to tuberculosis; tuberculous.
2. of, relating to, or of the nature of a tubercle or tubercles.
3. characterized by or having tubercles.

noun

1. a tuberculous person.

tubercular

/ tjʊˈbɜːkjʊlə /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or symptomatic of tuberculosis
2. of or relating to a tubercle or tubercles
3. characterized by the presence of tubercles

noun

1. a person with tuberculosis

Derived Forms

• tuˈbercularly, adverb

Other Words From

• tu·bercu·lar·ly adverb
• anti·tu·bercu·lar adjective
• inter·tu·bercu·lar adjective
• nontu·bercu·lar adjective
• nontu·bercu·lar·ly adverb
• posttu·bercu·lar adjective
• untu·bercu·lar adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of tubercular¹

1790–1800; < Latin tūbercul ( um ) tubercle + -ar ¹

Example Sentences

In Thomas Mann’s novel “The Magic Mountain,” set a decade or so later, the tubercular Hans Castorp too saw “his own grave” in the X-ray — “the flesh in which he moved decomposed, expunged, dissolved into airy nothingness.”

From New York Times

He had lost an older brother, Harold, to tuberculosis at age 24, and a younger brother, Arthur, to tubercular encephalitis at age 7, according to the Nixon library.

From Washington Post

The year after Willard stepped off his train into paradise, the California Board of Health took the “radical” step of asking the state to stop this surge of TB arrivals: halt trains at the state line, examine passengers, quarantine anyone who looked tubercular and even send them right back where they came from.

From Los Angeles Times

All except for Ratso, a tubercular, disabled con man.

From Washington Post

In the chapter called “Southern California for Invalids,” Nordhoff writes of running into a tubercular friend at a hotel in L.A., a friend he had last seen two years before, on the East Coast, at death’s door.

From Los Angeles Times