: any of several diseases of humans and domestic animals usually marked by severe gastrointestinal symptoms
especially
: an acute diarrheal disease caused by an enterotoxin produced by a comma-shaped gram-negative bacillus (Vibrio cholerae synonym V. comma) when it is present in large numbers in the proximal (see proximal sense 2) part of the human small intestine
Examples of cholera in a Sentence
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Malnutrition, cholera and measles are all projected to increase as well.
—
Brett Murphy, ProPublica, 3 Mar. 2025
In fact, diarrhoeal disease, which includes dysentery and cholera, is the third leading cause of death in children under 5 worldwide and is responsible for killing around 443,832 children every year, according to the World Health Organization.
—Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA TODAY, 3 Mar. 2025
The difference is that Frost’s poems are mourning not a friend but the pastoral life the poet has left behind, and mourning, too, his eldest child, Elliott, who died at age three, of cholera, in 1900.
—Maggie Doherty, The New Yorker, 24 Feb. 2025
Her father, James V, who likely died of cholera or dysentery after suffering a humiliating defeat at the Battle of Solway Moss in November 1542, left behind his newborn daughter as his only legitimate heir.
—Sarah Holzmann, Smithsonian Magazine, 8 Feb. 2025
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Brett Murphy, ProPublica, 3 Mar. 2025
In fact, diarrhoeal disease, which includes dysentery and cholera, is the third leading cause of death in children under 5 worldwide and is responsible for killing around 443,832 children every year, according to the World Health Organization.
—Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA TODAY, 3 Mar. 2025
The difference is that Frost’s poems are mourning not a friend but the pastoral life the poet has left behind, and mourning, too, his eldest child, Elliott, who died at age three, of cholera, in 1900.
—Maggie Doherty, The New Yorker, 24 Feb. 2025
Her father, James V, who likely died of cholera or dysentery after suffering a humiliating defeat at the Battle of Solway Moss in November 1542, left behind his newborn daughter as his only legitimate heir.
—Sarah Holzmann, Smithsonian Magazine, 8 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cholera
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Cite this Entry
“Cholera.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cholera. Accessed 21 Mar. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
cholera
noun
chol·era
ˈkäl-ə-rə 
: any of several diseases usually marked by severe vomiting and diarrhea
Medical Definition
cholera
noun
chol·era
ˈkäl-ə-rə
: any of several diseases of humans and domestic animals usually marked by severe gastrointestinal symptoms: as
a
: an acute diarrheal disease caused by an enterotoxin produced by various strains of a comma-shaped gram-negative bacterium of the genus Vibrio (V. cholerae synonym V. comma) when it is present in large numbers in the proximal part of the human small intestine see asiatic cholera
b
c
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