Word.ws English Dictionary

Montezuma's revenge

Syllables: Mon·te·zu·ma's re·vengeUK/ˌmɒn.təˈzuː.məz ɹɪˈvɛndʒ/US/ˌmɔ.ɾ̃əˈzu.məz ɹəˈvɛndʒ/

Montezuma's revenge noun: diarrhea experienced by tourists after drinking water or eating food in Mexico as a result of a microorganism to which native Mexicans are immune.

Noun

Montezuma's revenge (uncountable)

  1. (euphemistic, humorous) Diarrhea experienced by tourists after drinking water or eating food in Mexico as a result of a microorganism to which native Mexicans are immune.
    • Montezuma's Revenge, everybody knows, is the persistent intestinal illness that spoils the good humour of tourists in the tropics. Could there be a Montezuma's Revenge of the soul? There could. We caught it.1994, John-Claude Guillebaud, “Montezuma’s Revenge”, in John Simmons, transl., Return to Vietnam, London; New York, N.Y.: Verso Books, →ISBN, page 112
    • There's a lot of flu bugs floating around. I think it is commendable that he thought enough of his fellow senators to keep his diseases to himself. I don't know what he had, but I suspect it was Montezuma's Revenge. (Mexico is the only country in the world where the expression "Royal Flush" has...1999, Jim Foster, “Picking on Senator Going Too Far”, in I Hate to Complain, but …: A Collection of Humorous Something-or-others, Toronto, Ont.; Headington, Oxford; Tonawanda, N.Y.: Hounslow Press...
    Synonyms:
    Aztec two-step

Synonyms of Montezuma's revenge

Forms of Montezuma's revenge

alternative formMoctezuma’s revenge

Origin of Montezuma's revenge

Named for Montezuma or Moctezuma II (c. 1466 – 1520), the last Aztec ruler before the empire was conquered by the Spanish. The condition is seen as “retribution” for the massacres and enslavement of the Aztec people by the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés on August 13, 1521.

Questions about Montezuma's revenge

What does Montezuma's revenge mean?
Montezuma's revenge means diarrhea experienced by tourists after drinking water or eating food in Mexico as a result of a microorganism to which native Mexicans are immune.
What part of speech is Montezuma's revenge?
Montezuma's revenge is a noun.
How do you pronounce Montezuma's revenge?
Montezuma's revenge is pronounced /ˌmɒn.təˈzuː.məz ɹɪˈvɛndʒ/ (UK).

Words near Montezuma's revenge in the dictionary

  1. Montezuma cypresses
  2. Montezuma quail
  3. Montezuma quails
  4. Montezuma's cattleheart
  5. Montezuma's cattlehearts
  6. Montezuma's revenge
  7. Montezuman
  8. Montferland
  9. Montferrat
  10. Montferrer
  11. Montfoort

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Montezuma's revenge (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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