influenza

[ in-floo-en-zuh ]

noun

1. Pathology. an acute, commonly epidemic disease, occurring in several forms, caused by numerous rapidly mutating viral strains and characterized by respiratory symptoms and general prostration. Compare flu.
2. Veterinary Pathology. an acute, contagious disease occurring in horses and swine, characterized by fever, depression, and catarrhal inflammations of the eyes, nasal passages, and bronchi, and caused by a virus.

influenza

/ ˌɪnflʊˈɛnzə /

noun

1. informal.
   a highly contagious and often epidemic viral disease characterized by fever, prostration, muscular aches and pains, and inflammation of the respiratory passages Also calledgrippeflu

influenza

/ ĭn′flo̅o̅-ĕn′zə /

1. A highly contagious infectious disease that is caused by any of various viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae and is characterized by fever, respiratory symptoms, fatigue, and muscle pain. It commonly occurs in epidemics, one of which killed 20 million people between 1917 and 1919.

influenza

1. Commonly called the flu; an acute and infectious disease of the respiratory system caused by a virus and characterized by fever, muscle pain, headache, and inflammation of the mucous membranes in the respiratory tract .

Derived Forms

• ˌinfluˈenzal, adjective

Other Words From

• influ·enzal adjective
• influ·enza·like adjective
• postin·flu·enzal adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of influenza¹

1735–45; < Italian < Medieval Latin influentia influence

Word History and Origins

Origin of influenza¹

C18: from Italian, literally: influence , hence, incursion, epidemic (first applied to influenza in 1743)

Word History

Since ancient times, influenza has periodically swept the world. Until recently, people could not tell how this illness, which we call the flu, could spread so widely. Before people knew that organisms cause disease, they thought the stars influenced the spread of influenza. Influenza comes ultimately from the Latin word influentia, meaning “influence of the stars.” Today, however, the stars are no longer blamed for the flu. Inhaling influenza viruses causes the spread of the illness.

Example Sentences

It quickly published results of an early human test of a new mRNA influenza vaccine and would initiate a large series of clinical studies involving diseases including Zika.

From MIT Technology Review

The phenomenon is not only in the United States — worldwide, rates of influenza are nearly off-the-charts low.

From FiveThirtyEight

In that month alone, influenza claimed the lives of nearly 200,000 Americans, roughly quadrupling the country’s combat deaths for the entire war period.

From Washington Post

Vaccinations for influenza, pertussis and polio, for example, can stop people from getting severely ill if infected, but those people could still be contagious.

From Science News

Coronaviruses, which generally show less seasonal variation than the influenza virus, tend to have a weak response to changing temperatures.

From Quartz

With enough changing of the influenza RNA over time, the vaccine no longer provokes the “right” immune response.

From The Daily Beast

Though this too is debatable given that 25,000 to 40,000 people a year die of influenza—the vast majority of them unvaccinated.

From The Daily Beast

And right now in the US, there is an FDA-approved inhaled vaccine to prevent influenza called FluMist.

From The Daily Beast

Unlike influenza, it is incapable of traveling through tiny microscopic particles.

From The Daily Beast

These new cases, both real and merely suspected, are coming right as we approach the cusp of influenza season.

From The Daily Beast

The next day, as it happened, I had to go to bed with influenza, and wrote him that I might not get out for a week.

From Project Gutenberg

For example, a dreadful influenza epidemic occurred followed by a severe fuel shortage due to a railroad strike.

From Project Gutenberg

I am still alive, and in spite of the influenza perfectly well.

From Project Gutenberg

After the other seven were almost wholly recovered Henry lay down to influenza on his own account.

From Project Gutenberg

Influenza, called popularly the grippe, is caused by the bacillus influenzae, which was isolated by Pfeiffer in 1891.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• contagion
• curse
• epidemic
• infection
• infestation
• invasion
• outbreak
• pandemic
• scourge