chlamydia
Americannoun
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Microbiology. any coccoid rickettsia of the genus Chlamydia, parasitic in birds and mammals, including humans, and causing various infections, especially of the eyes, as trachoma, lungs, as psittacosis, and genitourinary tract, as urethritis or chlamydia.
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Also called lymphogranuloma venereum. Pathology. a widespread, often asymptomatic sexually transmitted disease caused by Chlamydia trachomatis, a major cause of nongonococcal urethritis in men and pelvic inflammatory disease and ectopic pregnancy in women.
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of chlamydia
First recorded in 1945 in an article by Helen Jones, Geoffrey Rake, and Barbara Stearns as the proposed name of a taxon; 1966 in the current sense; from New Latin, from Greek chlamyd- (stem of chlamýs chlamys ) + New Latin -ia -ia
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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.
And there was: There had been some progress, with oxytetracycline, OTC for short, a powerful antibiotic that is used to treat chlamydia and sometimes syphilis in humans.
From Slate • Apr. 20, 2026
Apart from being potentially fatal, chlamydia - which is transmitted by close contact or mating - can also cause painful urinary tract infections, conjunctivitis, blindness and infertility in koalas.
From BBC • Sep. 9, 2025
Koalas infected with chlamydia are usually given antibiotics but the treatment means they cannot digest eucalyptus leaves - their only food source - leading to starvation and sometimes death.
From BBC • Sep. 9, 2025
The rates of chlamydia remained about the same in 2023 as the year prior.
From Salon • Jan. 17, 2025
A veterinary nurse treats a koala infected with chlamydia at Currumbin Wildlife Hospital in Currumbin, Australia.Credit...
From New York Times • Apr. 15, 2024
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
