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.

Over in England in 1774, the village of Yetminster was facing a growing smallpox epidemic and variolation was their only option.

From Salon • Nov. 14, 2021

General George Washington compelled troops to get a smallpox variolation, saying it was necessary to safeguard soldiers and to win the war.

From Scientific American • Aug. 5, 2021

Before then, doctors used inoculation, or variolation as it was often called, introducing a trace amount of the smallpox virus into the skin.

From Seattle Times • May 20, 2021

No one knows exactly when and where variolation, a kind of proto-vaccination that involves direct exposure to small amounts of the virus itself, was first practiced.

From New York Times • Apr. 27, 2021

The old custom of variolation had not been discarded, and the experience of the Gloucestershire milkmaids had not crystalized into the form of vaccination to be handed down by Jenner.

From Fragments of Two Centuries Glimpses of Country Life when George III. was King by Kingston, Alfred