A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg
miasma
PRONUNCIATION:
(my-AZ-muh, mee-)
plural miasmas, miasmata (my-AZ-muh-tuh, mee-)
MEANING:
noun:
1. Noxious emissions: smoke, vapors, etc., especially those from decaying organic matter.
2. An oppressive or unpleasant atmosphere.
NOTES:
Earlier it was believed that many diseases were caused by bad air from decomposing organic matter, as in a swamp. Malaria, for example, is named from Italian mala aria (bad air). The germ theory of disease has put the bad air theory to rest.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek miasma (pollution, defilement), from miainein (to pollute). Earliest documented use: 1665.
USAGE:
"A miasma of smoke from wildfires cloaked the sweltering Russian capital."
Jim Heintz; Fires Lay Ghostly Shroud of Smoke on Moscow; Associated Press (New York); Aug 6, 2010.
"The region is still wobbling in the miasma of corruption."
Bobi Odiko; Region Still Wobbling in Corruption; East African Business Week (Tanzania); Aug 4, 2010.
Explore "miasma" in the Visual Thesaurus.
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
That sign of old age, extolling the past at the expense of the present. -Sydney Smith, writer and clergyman (1771-1845)
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