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# miasma

«miasma» in Mova's school dictionary: **A cloud of bad-smelling, unhealthy air, such as the smell…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a miasma, miasmas)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A cloud of bad-smelling, unhealthy air, such as the smell from rotting things or a swamp. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/miasma/#m1)

2) (figurative) A heavy, unpleasant feeling that hangs over a place: «a miasma of gloom». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/miasma/#m2)

3) (history of science) The old wrong idea that diseases like cholera were caused by «bad air» (miasma), before germs were discovered. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/miasma/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In history and science lessons, «miasma theory» was believed until the 1800s; John Snow's work on cholera in London in 1854 and later germ theory (Pasteur, Koch) showed diseases are spread by germs, not smells. In stories, a miasma hangs over swamps, dungeons or sad places. Phrases: «a miasma of smoke», «miasma theory».

### examples

- A miasma rose from the rotting swamp. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/miasma/#x1)
- People once blamed cholera on miasma, or bad air. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/miasma/#x2)
- John Snow showed that dirty water, not miasma, spread cholera. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/miasma/#x3)
- A miasma of cigarette smoke filled the old pub. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/miasma/#x4)
- A miasma of sadness hung over the empty house. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/miasma/#x5)
- Miasma theory was replaced by germ theory. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/miasma/#x6)
- The dragon's cave was full of a foul miasma. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/miasma/#x7)
- Florence Nightingale also believed in miasma, but her cleaning still saved lives. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/miasma/#x8)

### note

Countable: one miasma, two miasmas. Pronounced «mee-AZ-ma» or «my-AZ-ma». Myth trap: bad smells do not cause diseases themselves; germs do (though rotting things can contain germs). Not a maths word.

### In the corpora

- [Before germ theory, many people believed illness came from bad air, called miasma.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/30-germs-the-immune-system-and-hand-washing/16/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «miasma» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/miasma/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.