of or relating to tuberculosis or tubercles; tubercular
Derived forms
tuberculously (tuˈberculously)
adverb
tuberculous in American English
(tjʊˈbɜrkjələs)
adjective
tubercular
tuberculous in American English
(tuˈbɜːrkjələs, tju-)
adjective
1.
of or relating to tuberculosis or tubercles; tubercular
2.
affected with tuberculosis
a hospital for tuberculous people
Derived forms
tuberculously
adverb
Word origin
[1740–50; ‹ L tūbercul(um) tubercle + -ous]This word is first recorded in the period 1740–50. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: damper, kingfish, masthead, picnic, snappy-ous is a suffix forming adjectives that have the general sense “possessing, full of”a given quality (covetous; glorious; nervous; wondrous); -ous and its variant -ious have often been used to Anglicize Latin adjectives with terminations that cannotbe directly adapted into English (atrocious; contiguous; garrulous; obvious; stupendous). As an adjective-forming suffix of neutral value, it regularly Anglicizes Greekand Latin adjectives derived without suffix from nouns and verbs; many such formationsare productive combining forms in English, sometimes with a corresponding nominalcombining form that has no suffix (as -fer and -ferous; -phore and -phorous; -pter and -pterous; -vore and -vorous)
Examples of 'tuberculous' in a sentence
tuberculous
I admitted him to hospital, where he subsequently had tuberculous meningitis diagnosed.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Is it not possible that tuberculous badgers cough up infected sputum onto grass which is then eaten by cattle?