Smallpox is a serious infectious disease that causes spots which leave deep marks on the skin.
smallpox in British English
(ˈsmɔːlˌpɒks)
noun
an acute highly contagious viral disease characterized by high fever, severe prostration, and a pinkish rash changing in form from papules to pustules, which dry up and form scabs that are cast off, leaving pitted depressions
Technical name: variola ▶ Related adjective: variolous
Word origin
C16: from small + pox. So called to distinguish it from the Great Pox, an archaic name for syphilis
smallpox in American English
(smɔlˌpɑks)
noun
an acute, highly contagious disease caused by a poxvirus and characterized by prolonged fever, vomiting, and pustular eruptions that often leave pitted scars, or pockmarks, when healed
see also variola
Examples of 'smallpox' in a sentence
smallpox
Previous generations bore the risks of smallpox vaccination.
Christianity Today (2000)
They promoted vaccination for smallpox, or lightning conductors on their village's tallest structure.
Michael Burleigh Earthly Powers: Religion and Politics in Europe from the Enlightenment to the GreatWar (2005)
Credit the WHO smallpox vaccination effort.
McKenzie, James F. & Pinger, Robert R. An Introduction to Community Health (1995)
Both companies have been competing to sell smallpox vaccines to the US Government.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
English settlers for control of coastal lands suffered terribly, sometimes from war, but more often from the spread of contagious diseases such as smallpox.
Divine, Robert A. (editor) & Breen, T. H & Frederickson, George M & Williams, R. Hal America Past and Present (1995)
Much followed in the next couple of decades, such as the smallpox vaccine, the beginnings of modern chemistry and the origin of safe surgery through anaesthesia.