noun
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Dysentery can be transmitted by contact with water or food that has been contaminated by human waste. Public health and sanitation procedures in developed countries, however, have largely eliminated this means of transmission.
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Etymology
Origin of dysentery
First recorded in 1350–1400; from Medieval Latin dysenteria, from Greek, from dysénter(a) “bad bowels” ( see dys-, enteron) + -ia -ia; replacing Middle English dissenterie, from Old French
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How does dysentery compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Dysentery is a nasty sounding word for a nasty condition: an intestinal infection that results in diarrhea. There are few things as unpleasant as dysentery, an infectious condition, kind of like the flu, that includes severe diarrhea. Dysentery is common in countries and places with poor health conditions and sewage problems. If the drinking water is filthy, that's a great way to spread dysentery. This word sounds kind of dirty, and that's a good hint to its meaning: the horrible illness of dysentery spreads in dirty, unsafe living conditions.
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.
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Let’s hope the Gopher coach doesn’t succumb to dysentery by Halloween.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
It’s more like The Oregon Trail for podcasting, but with less dysentery.
From Slate ● Apr. 5, 2026
“It contributes to ill health, cholera, dysentery, typhoid, water-related diseases, and it contributes to conflicts over water.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 26, 2025
He died in 1941 of dysentery when British forces briefly fought there during World War Two.
From BBC ● Nov. 8, 2025
But we’ve had just as many guys taken out with dysentery and influenza.
From "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool
"They've got tuberculosis, Salmonella, all the dysenteries," says Rodger Farr, a psychiatrist who ministers to the homeless of Los Angeles.
From Time Magazine Archive
Mothers Should Nurse Their Children.—Statistics show that the summer diarrhœas and dysenteries, which carry off such immense numbers of children each year, are almost unknown among babies that nurse.
From Treatise on the Diseases of Women by Lydia Estes Pinkham
The most prevalent diseases of this country are dysenteries, hot fevers, and calentures, in all which they prescribe abstinence as a principal remedy.
The sun-strokes, the dysenteries, the fevers, the choleras, have affinity for July and August.
From Around The Tea-Table by T. De Witt (Thomas De Witt) Talmage
Intermittent fevers are extremely common, as are likewise dysenteries, which usually terminate in swellings of the abdomen, and often prove fatal.
From Travels in Arabia; comprehending an account of those territories in Hedjaz which the Mohammedans regard as sacred by John Lewis Burckhardt
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