social disease

American  

noun

1. a venereal disease.

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Etymology

Origin of social disease

First recorded in 1915–20

Example Sentences

William Osler, often described as the father of modern medicine, put it like this: “Tuberculosis is a social disease with a medical aspect.”

From Salon • Feb. 21, 2025

Antisemitism, like Anti-Arabism and racism, is a social disease that can be confronted only by us standing together, Syrian- and Israeli-sympathizing Americans alike.

From Washington Post • Nov. 3, 2022

I wanted to help make a point together with all my fellow Argentines that misogyny is a social disease and that we are ready to fight to erradicate it.

From The Guardian • Oct. 21, 2016

PC, though, is just the symptom of a more virulent social disease.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 6, 2016

As it is our purpose to deal with the pressure of poverty as a painful social disease, it is evident that the latter meaning is unduly wide.

From Problems of Poverty by Hobson, J. A. (John Atkinson)