Adjacent Words

Syphilis definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SYPH'ILIS. [See Siphilis.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a common venereal disease caused by the treponema pallidum spirochete; symptoms change through progressive stages; can be congenital (transmitted through the placenta) [syn: syphilis, syph, pox, lues venerea, lues]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: New Latin, from Syphilus, hero of the poem Syphilis sive Morbus Gallicus (Syphilis or the French disease) (1530) by Girolamo Fracastoro died 1553 Italian poet and physician Date: 1718 a chronic contagious usually venereal and often congenital disease caused by a spirochete (Treponema pallidum) and if left untreated producing chancres, rashes, and systemic lesions in a clinical course with three stages continued over many years — compare primary syphilis, secondary syphilis, tertiary syphilis • syphilitic adjective or noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. a contagious venereal disease progressing from infection of the genitals via the skin and mucous membrane to the bones, muscles, and brain. Derivatives: syphilitic adj. syphilize v.tr. (also -ise). syphiloid adj. Etymology: mod.L f. title (Syphilis, sive Morbus Gallicus) of a Latin poem (1530), f. Syphilus, a character in it, the supposed first sufferer from the disease

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Syphilis Syph"i*lis, n. [NL., fr. Syphilus, the name of a shepherd in the Latin poem of Fracastoro, ``Syphilus, sive Morbus Gallicus,'' which was published in 1530; Gr. ? hog, swine + ? dear, loving. The term was introduced into nosology by Sauvages.] (Med.) The pox, or venereal disease; a chronic, specific, infectious disease, usually communicated by sexual intercourse or by hereditary transmission, and occurring in three stages known as primary, secondary, and tertiary syphilis. See under Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Syphilis is a serious disease which is passed on through sexual intercourse.

Moby Thesaurus

French disease, Spanish pox, VD, acquired syphilis, balanitis gangrenosa, cerebral tabes, chancre, chancroid, clap, claps, climatic bubo, congenital syphilis, constitutional syphilis, dose, dose of clap, fifth venereal disease, general paresis, gonorrhea, granuloma inguinale, granuloma venereum, great pox, hard chancre, latent syphilis, locomotor ataxia, morbus Gallicus, paralytic dementia, paresis, pox, pudendal ulcer, simple chancre, social disease, soft chancre, syph, syphilitic meningoencephalitis, tabes, tabes dorsales, tertiary syphilis, tropical bubo, venereal disease