Variola

noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Smallpox (Orthopoxvirus variola). uncountable, usually
  2. 2
    a highly contagious viral disease characterized by fever and weakness and skin eruption with pustules that form scabs that slough off leaving scars wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
agueanthraxblack deathcholeradiphtheriadysentery

Etymology

From Middle English variolas pl (“pustules, pocks”), from Medieval Latin or Medical Latin variola (“infectious disease causing pustules; pox”), from Latin varius. Doublet of variole.

Related phrases

equine variolavariola ovina

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.