social disease

American  

noun

1. a venereal disease.

---

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

Chess pieces just sort of materialize throughout the night; one couple plays chess, then another, then another, catching on like a dance craze or a social disease.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 5, 2023

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

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

From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 6, 2016

Besides this severer type of social disease, there is what has been called sometimes a milder form.

From Essays In Pastoral Medicine by ?Malley, Austin