Showing results for leukaemia. Search instead for leukasmus.

leukaemia

British

/ luːˈkiːmɪə /

noun

an acute or chronic disease characterized by a gross proliferation of leucocytes, which crowd into the bone marrow, spleen, lymph nodes, etc, and suppress the blood-forming apparatus

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of leukaemia

C19: from _leuco- + Greek haima blood

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Donna died of leukaemia in 1975, aged 14.

From BBC • Apr. 18, 2026

Two sisters who believed they were fraternal twins discovered they were in fact identical - after one of them was diagnosed with leukaemia at the age of 23.

From BBC • Feb. 24, 2026

Diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia at two years old, Dylan spent much of his early childhood undergoing intensive chemotherapy.

From BBC • Jan. 28, 2026

When Cross was diagnosed with leukaemia aged 24, she did not immediately blame the nuclear explosions in French Polynesia decades earlier.

From Barron's • Jan. 22, 2026

Causes.—It comes from malaria, syphilis or leukaemia, etc.

From Mother's Remedies Over One Thousand Tried and Tested Remedies from Mothers of the United States and Canada by Ritter, Thomas Jefferson

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023