variola
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
- variolar adjective
Etymology
Origin of variola
1795–1805; < Medieval Latin, equivalent to Latin vari ( us ) speckled ( see various) + -ola -ole 1
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.
A few years ago, researchers scoured the remains of 1867 people who lived between 30,000 and 150 years ago for genetic traces of variola, the virus that causes smallpox.
From Science Magazine • Sep. 15, 2022
Monkeypox is a poxvirus in the same family as variola – the virus that causes smallpox – and cowpox viruses and likely evolved in animals before jumping to humans.
From Scientific American • Aug. 18, 2022
Smallpox is a human virus transmitted by inhalation of the variola virus, localized in the skin, mouth, and throat, which causes a characteristic rash.
From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022
The variola virus, which causes smallpox, is the only disease to have been eradicated by human medicine.
From Salon • Jun. 1, 2022
By far the larger number of all transmissions of variola occur after inhalation of the infective medium—in other words, by the avenue of the lungs.
From A System of Practical Medicine by American Authors, Vol. I Volume 1: Pathology and General Diseases by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
