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View synonyms for carbuncle

carbuncle

[ kahr-buhng-kuhl ]

noun

  1. Pathology. a painful circumscribed inflammation of the subcutaneous tissue, resulting in suppuration and sloughing, and having a tendency to spread somewhat like a boil, but more serious in its effects.
  2. a gemstone, especially a garnet, cut with a convex back and a cabochon surface.
  3. Also called Lon·don brown [luhn, -d, uh, n , broun]. a dark grayish, red-brown color.
  4. Obsolete. any rounded red gem.


adjective

  1. having the color carbuncle.

carbuncle

/ ˈkɑːˌbʌŋkəl; kɑːˈbʌŋkjʊlə /

noun

  1. an extensive skin eruption, similar to but larger than a boil, with several openings: caused by staphylococcal infection
  2. a rounded gemstone, esp a garnet cut without facets
  3. a dark reddish-greyish-brown colour
“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


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Derived Forms

  • carbuncular, adjective
  • ˈcarˌbuncled, adjective
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Word History and Origins

Origin of carbuncle1

1150–1200; Middle English < Anglo-French < Latin carbunculus kind of precious stone, tumor, literally, live coal, equivalent to carbōn- (stem of carbō ) burning charcoal + -culus -cule 1, apparently assimilated to derivates from short-vowel stems; homunculus
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Word History and Origins

Origin of carbuncle1

C13: from Latin carbunculus diminutive of carbō coal
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Example Sentences

But he had hard luck, too, for another carbuncle developed at Melbourne and kept him laid up for nearly a week.

It was the flash of the great carbuncle, and the stars seen through it were as if dyed in blood.

The sun struck it, and made the engraved carbuncle shine dully red.

It happened that Mre Jupillon had trouble with her leg—a carbuncle that prevented her from walking for nearly eighteen months.

This story of the carbuncle reminds us of Hawthorne's story on the same subject.

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carbro processcarbuncled