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Synonyms

venereal disease

American  

noun

Pathology.

  1. sexually transmitted disease. VD

venereal disease British  

noun

  1.  VD.  any of various diseases, such as syphilis or gonorrhoea, transmitted by sexual intercourse

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
venereal disease Scientific  
/ və-nîr′ē-əl /

  1. See sexually transmitted disease

Etymology

Origin of venereal disease

First recorded in 1650–60

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.

While syphilis as a venereal disease presents a global health risk, bejel, which is spread by skin contact, only occurs today in very arid regions of Africa and Asia.

From Science Daily • Jan. 24, 2024

He is chief of the venereal disease branch of the PHS’s Center for Disease Control in Atlanta and is now in charge of what remains of the Tuskegee Study.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 24, 2022

This regulated her clothing, movements and behavior and forced her to undergo regular screenings for venereal disease, a system “designed as much to chasten” women like her as to protect their health.

From Washington Post • May 17, 2019

Nevertheless, the judge ruled that physicians could legally prescribe contraception for general health reasons, if not exclusively for venereal disease.

From Salon • Jan. 29, 2017

We have as much distaste for talking about personal death as for thinking about it; it is an indelicacy, like talking in mixed company about venereal disease or abortion in the old days.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas

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.