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tubercular

American  
[too-bur-kyuh-ler, tyoo-] / tʊˈbɜr kjə lər, tjʊ- /

adjective

  1. pertaining to tuberculosis; tuberculous.

  2. of, relating to, or of the nature of a tubercle or tubercles.

  3. characterized by or having tubercles.


noun

  1. a tuberculous person.

tubercular British  
/ tjʊˈbɜːkjʊlə /

adjective

  1. of, relating to, or symptomatic of tuberculosis

  2. of or relating to a tubercle or tubercles

  3. characterized by the presence of tubercles

"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

noun

  1. a person with tuberculosis

"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

Other Word Forms


Etymology

Origin of tubercular

1790–1800; < Latin tūbercul ( um ) tubercle + -ar 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.

See Examples For:

Her tubercular pale skin and flushed cheeks contributed to her allure.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 13, 2026

Garner, a tubercular local railroad worker “snatched from the grave by radium” at the British-American Medical Institute at 859 South Figueroa, where, restored to health, he went to work operating the institute’s “electro-ozo-viro-radium treatment machine.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 28, 2021

With the “Funeral March” at its center, LaFarge’s multifaceted “journey” covers everything from the tubercular composer’s relationship with the gender-bending author George Sand to the video game “Frederic: The Resurrection of Music.”

From New York Times ● Aug. 13, 2021

He travels the world showing and filming urban street commotion, a slow-motion falling cat and — tenderly but creepily — the very last breaths of his own tubercular sister, Odette, in a Paris sanitarium.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 10, 2019

The cancerous and tubercular rats and mice leaped about their cages.

From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright

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