miasma

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (10)  · 

View all »
Definitions (7)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun A noxious atmosphere or influence: "The family affection, the family expectations, seemed to permeate the atmosphere . . . like a coiling miasma” (Louis Auchincloss).
  2. noun A poisonous atmosphere formerly thought to rise from swamps and putrid matter and cause disease.
  3. noun A thick vaporous atmosphere or emanation: wreathed in a miasma of cigarette smoke.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (1)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (2)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples

  • Even through the unease that hung about him like a miasma, a tall Zamoran beauty with arrogance enough for a score of kings had a way of intruding on his thoughts when he was not careful. —  Conan The Magnificent
  • When he opened the box, an aching unease stole out of it like a miasma. —  This Scepter'd Isle
  • The offal stench of the abattoir rose like a miasma, and blood, dark as oil, began to flood the room. —  Second Skin
  • Still the Aspasia_, from the precautions which had been taken, in fumigating, and avoiding all unnecessary contact with the shipping and the shore, had for nearly a fortnight escaped the infection; but the miasma was at last wafted to the frigate, and in the course of one night fifteen men, who were in health the preceding evening, before eight o'clock on the following morning were lying in their hammocks under the half-deck. —  The King's Own
  • Still the _Aspasia_, from the precautions which had been taken, in fumigating, and avoiding all unnecessary contact with the shipping and the shore, had for nearly a fortnight escaped the infection; but the miasma was at last wafted to the frigate, and in the course of one night fifteen men, who were in health the preceding evening, before eight o'clock on the following morning were lying in their hammocks under the half-deck. —  The King's Own
 

Tags

miasma hasn't been tagged yet.

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

Miasma has been looked up 513 times, favorited 11 times, listed 174 times, and commented on 10 times.

On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Greek, pollution, stain, from miainein, to pollute.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. New Latin: see miasm.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »

/maɪˈæzmə/
by American Heritage

Charts

frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word a few times a year.

Recent Lookups

integrated · Bantry · Coking · meretrix · condusive

Recent Favorites

airship · cloud-shadows · ombrophobous · turncoat · metaplasm

Recent Pronunciations

milosrdenstvi · lichen-covered · futon · sagacity · monoragngocious