sequela

Syllables: se·que·la/sɪˈkwiːlə/US/sɪˈkwɛlə/

sequela noun: chiefly in the plural: a condition or disease which follows chronologically after an earlier one, being either partly or wholly caused by it, or made possible by it.

Noun

sequela (plural sequelae or (archaic) sequelæ)

Chiefly in the plural: a condition or disease which follows chronologically after an earlier one, being either partly or wholly caused by it, or made possible by it.
- Complications: haematoma formation is a dangerous sequela of this operation, and careful drainage with polythene tubing was carried out.1970, J[ames] G[raham] Ballard, “Princess Margaret’s Face Lift”, in The Atrocity Exhibition, revised edition, London: Flamingo, HarperCollinsPublishers, published 2001, →ISBN, page 178
- ‘Ay, ay,’ said Stephen testily, ‘it is showy enough to look at, no doubt, but these are only the superficial sequelae. There is no essential lesion.’1973, Patrick O’Brian, chapter 4, in H.M.S. Surprise, London: HarperCollinsPublishers for The Book People, →ISBN, page 69
(broadly, formal) That which follows; a consequence, an effect.
- Initially he dosed himself [with opium] to quell neuralgia associated with 'gout' and nervous shooting pains in the limb and head, unable to bear the agonies these complaints produced on what Humphry Davy would call his 'excessive sensibility'. Self-dosing brought emotional and physical sequelae of...2003, Roy Porter, “Dependent Bodies”, in Flesh in the Age of Reason, London: Allen Lane, Penguin Group, →ISBN, part IV (The Science of Man for a New Society), page 407
(broadly, formal, rare) People who adhere to the opinions or teachings of another; followers.

sequela meaning in Tamil, Malay and Vietnamese

sequela in Malay

condition or disease which follows chronologically after an earlier one: sekuela

sequela in Vietnamese

condition or disease which follows chronologically after an earlier one: di chứng

Examples of sequela in a sentence

These sequelae have been further identified as factors potentially associated with EOC risk.2023 December 11, Elizaveta Skarga, Heljä-Marja Surcel, Rudolf Kaaks, Tim Waterboer, Renée T Fortner, “Sexually Transmitted Infections and...
Self-dosing brought emotional and physical sequelae of its own.2003, Roy Porter, “Dependent Bodies”, in Flesh in the Age of Reason, London: Allen Lane, Penguin Group, →ISBN, part IV (The Science of Man...

Forms of sequela

plural	sequelae
plural (archaic)	sequelæ

Origin of sequela

Learned borrowing from Latin sequēla (“aftermath, sequel; consequence, result”), from sequor (“to follow; to come or go after, pursue”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“to follow”)) + -ēla (suffix forming abstract nouns from verbs). Doublet of sequel. The plural form is a learned borrowing from Latin sequēlae.

Words that rhyme with sequela

Questions about sequela

What does sequela mean?: Sequela means chiefly in the plural: a condition or disease which follows chronologically after an earlier one, being either partly or wholly caused by it, or made possible by it.
What is sequela in Tamil?: Sequela in Tamil is பின்விளைவு. See Sequela meaning in Tamil.
How do you use sequela in a sentence?: These sequelae have been further identified as factors potentially associated with EOC risk.
What part of speech is sequela?: Sequela is a noun.
How do you pronounce sequela?: Sequela is pronounced /sɪˈkwiːlə/ (UK).
What is the plural of sequela?: The plural of sequela is sequelae.

Words near sequela in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: sequela (page history and authors); sequela (Tamil Wiktionary) (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-sequela.wav.

Cite this entry: “sequela.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sequela. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.