paludal
Americanadjective
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of or relating to marshes.
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produced by marshes, as miasma or disease.
adjective
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of, relating to, or produced by marshes
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malarial
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of paludal
First recorded in 1810–20; from Latin palūd- (stem of palūs ) “swamp, marsh” + -al 1
Explanation
Paludal describes things relating to, inhabiting, or occurring in marshes and swamps. Hikers who wander onto paludal terrain might find themselves slogging through mud and standing water. Derived from the Latin word palus, meaning "marsh," paludal is a formal term used to describe wetland environments. In ecology, it refers to plants, animals, and habitats associated with swamps, marshes, fens, and bogs. In geology, it can refer to sediment formed in wetlands. Historically, the word was used in medicine, especially referring to "paludal fever," an older term for malaria because of the disease's association with marshy, mosquito-filled areas.
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.
Nearly a million cubic yards of sediment had made the five-mile journey, resulting in the creation—or, to be more accurate, the re-creation—of a hundred and eighty-six paludal acres.
From The New Yorker ● Mar. 25, 2019
A characteristic paludal deposit is a peat bog, a deposit rich in organic matter that can be converted into coal when lithified.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2017
As long as the paludal theory held sway, the chemical interpretation of this identity of the product in every latitude was easy.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 458, October 11, 1884 by Various
In the Roman states alone, sixty thousand perish every year from this paludal influence.
From Martyria or Andersonville Prison by Augustus C. Hamlin
The fact that an art which springs from such a marshy soil may, like certain paludal plants, be “wonderful,” “gorgeous,” and “overwhelming,” cannot be denied; but true art it is not.
From The Case Of Wagner, Nietzsche Contra Wagner, and Selected Aphorisms. by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
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.
