bubonic plague

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noun Pathology.

a serious, sometimes fatal, infection with the bacterial toxin Yersinia pestis, transmitted by fleas from infected rodents and characterized by high fever, weakness, and the formation of buboes, especially in the groin and armpits.

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Compare Black Death.

Origin of bubonic plague

First recorded in 1885–90

Words nearby bubonic plague

bubbly, bubby, Buber, bubo, bubonic, bubonic plague, bubonocele, bubu, Bucaramanga, buccal, buccaneer

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use bubonic plague in a sentence

And, most important, it wasn’t bubonic plague, the historically dreaded but actually not very contagious form of the disease.
The next pandemic is already here. Covid can teach us how to fight it.|Maryn McKenna|June 23, 2021|MIT Technology Review
San Francisco plague outbreakIn 1900, an outbreak of bubonic plague struck San Francisco.
The long, ugly history of anti-Asian racism and violence in the U.S.|Gillian Brockell|March 18, 2021|Washington Post
Isaac Newton was a Cambridge student, quarantined because of the bubonic plague at his family’s apple orchard, when he made some of his key discoveries about gravity.
Even if You Feel Like This Was a Lost Year, That Might Not Be True|Joanne Lipman|February 16, 2021|Time
Similar stories plague many parts of Latin America, Africa, and Eastern Asia.
Promoting Girls’ Education Isn’t Enough: Malala Can Do More|Paula Kweskin|December 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Why is violence against women central to so many of the conflicts that plague the planet today?
The Hidden Link Between Women and War|Leith Greenslade|December 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Spread happens easily, however, and epidemics are propagated when the third form of plague occurs: pneumonia plague.
Bubonic Plague Is Back (but It Never Really Left)|Kent Sepkowitz|November 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
First, bubonic (rhymes with pneumonic but is altogether different) is a local infection sequestered in a lymph node.
Bubonic Plague Is Back (but It Never Really Left)|Kent Sepkowitz|November 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
As I described in an article over the summer when the fatal case in China was diagnosed, plague has three distinct clinical forms.
Bubonic Plague Is Back (but It Never Really Left)|Kent Sepkowitz|November 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The great plague of this and the subsequent year broke out at St. Giles, London.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology|Joel Munsell
Garnache need not plague himself with vexation that his rash temper alone had wrought his ruin now.
St. Martin's Summer|Rafael Sabatini
A man was whipped through London for going to court when his house was infected by plague.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology|Joel Munsell
The plague at Smyrna committed great ravages; about 300 died daily for some time.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology|Joel Munsell
Those little Babcocks are sure to come, invited or not, and as surely would plague the life out of her.
Dorothy at Skyrie|Evelyn Raymond

British Dictionary definitions for bubonic plague

bubonic plague

noun

an acute infectious febrile disease characterized by chills, prostration, delirium, and formation of buboes: caused by the bite of a rat flea infected with the bacterium Yersinia pestisSee also plague

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

Scientific definitions for bubonic plague

bubonic plague

[ bōō-bŏn′ĭk ]

See under plague.

Cultural definitions for bubonic plague

bubonic plague

[ (byooh-bon-ik, booh-bon-ik playg) ]

A highly contagious disease, usually fatal, affecting the lymphatic system. The bubonic plague is caused by bacteria transmitted to humans by rat-borne fleas.

notes for bubonic plague

From 1347 to 1351, a disease known as the Black Death, similar to the bubonic plague, entered Europe from Asia and killed a large percentage of the population, sometimes wiping out entire towns. It caused widespread social changes in Europe.