miasma

[mahy-az-muh, mee-]

noun

plural

miasmas, miasmata 

1. noxious exhalations from putrescent organic matter; poisonous effluvia or germs polluting the atmosphere.

2. a dangerous, foreboding, or deathlike influence or atmosphere.

miasma

/ mɪˈæzmə, ˌmiːəzˈmætɪk /

noun

1. an unwholesome or oppressive atmosphere

2. pollution in the atmosphere, esp noxious vapours from decomposing organic matter

Other Word Forms

• miasmal adjective
• miasmatic adjective
• miasmatical adjective
• miasmic adjective
• unmiasmal adjective
• unmiasmatic adjective
• unmiasmatical adjective
• unmiasmic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of miasma¹

1655–65; < New Latin < Greek míasma stain, pollution, akin to miaínein to pollute, stain

Word History and Origins

Origin of miasma¹

C17: New Latin, from Greek: defilement, from miainein to defile

Example Sentences

Few writers since Henry James can create an atmosphere of doubt around events and character as effectively as this author does, and in “Venetian Vespers” the miasma thickens at every turn.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Above all, we experience a pervasive miasma of helplessness as we are forced to watch this intolerable train wreck.

Read more on Salon

In such a milieu, Hine’s troubling 1908 photographs would easily disappear, perhaps seizing a moment but soon evaporating into the visual miasma that floods the zone daily.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

It was a couple of weeks after the great smog had brought London to a standstill, and although that particularly foul miasma had dispersed, smog still regularly reduced visibility.

Read more on BBC

None of these is a new argument — they’ve been swirling around the conservative and Republican fever swamp like a miasma for decades.

Read more on Los Angeles Times