variolate

[vair-ee-uh-leyt, -lit]

adjective

Pathology.

1. resembling smallpox, as a lesion.

variolate

/ ˈvɛərɪəˌleɪt /

verb

1. (tr) to inoculate with the smallpox virus

adjective

1. marked or pitted with or as if with the scars of smallpox

Other Word Forms

• variolation noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of variolate¹

First recorded in 1785–95; variol(a) + -ate ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of variolate¹

C18: from _variola

Example Sentences

“So if you can drive up rates of asymptomatic infection with masks, maybe that becomes a way to variolate the population.”

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We can scarcely suppose that he did anything else than variolate these persons, just as he would have done had he used variolous lymph without the addition of milk.

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Variolate -ose: with large, rounded impressions like pock-marks.

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Related Words

• immunize 
• inject 
• inoculate 
• protect 
• treat