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In notes taken during a voyage to South America on the HMS Beagle in the 1830s, Charles Darwin described an illness that he believed was caused by "miasma" emanating from stagnant pools of water. For him, miasma had the same meaning that it did when it first appeared in English in the 1600s: an emanation of a vaporous disease-causing substance. (Miasma comes from Greek miainein, meaning "to pollute.") But while Darwin was at sea, broader applications of miasma were starting to spread. Nowadays, we know germs are the source of infection, so we're more likely to use the newer, more figurative sense of miasma, which refers to something destructive or demoralizing that surrounds or permeates.
Examples of miasma in a Sentence
Emil Steiner, Forbes, 28 Oct. 2024
In 1776, and for a century afterward, many illnesses were believed to be caused by miasma, or foul-smelling vapors arising from swamps, excrement, polluted water, and the habitations of the poor.
—David Owen, The New Yorker, 27 July 2024
Translation: cigarette smoke, vape trails and that noxious miasma from your beloved, 50-ring Cuban cigar will undoubtedly induce a wave of nausea across a wide swath of the beach.
—Steve Cambria, Hartford Courant, 4 Aug. 2024
In the second half of the nineteenth century, though, anxieties about miasma began to be displaced by their virtual opposite: faith in the therapeutic value of keeping windows open.
—David Owen, The New Yorker, 27 July 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Miasma.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/miasma. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
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