Word.ws English Dictionary

X-disease

US/ˈɛks.dɪ.ziz/

X-disease proper noun: hyperkeratosis in cattle.

Proper noun

X-disease

  1. Hyperkeratosis in cattle.
    • In making a diagnosis of X-disease, one must consider the insidious onset, slow course, and number of animals affected.1949, United States. Animal Industry Bureau, Report of the Preliminary Survey on "X" Disease, page 10
    • At the time of its first occurrence, nothing was known about the cause of X-disease or whether it could be treated and cured.1954, United States. Agricultural Research Service, Hyperkeratosis (X-disease) of Cattle, page 5
  2. A disease of stone fruits caused by a form of mycoplasma.
    • Transmission of X-disease was more erratic with peach than with chokecherry buds, possibly because only low titers of the X-disease mycoplasma-like organisms (MLO) are present in infected peach trees during most of the year.1977, The Plant Disease Reporter, page 1024
    • Studies of the phytoplasma associated with choke cherry X-disease in North Dakota.1998, Dissertation Abstracts International, page 4544

Examples of X-disease in a sentence

  • Crankcase oils may contain chlorinated naphthalenes, which have been reported to contribute to "X-disease" (hyperkeratosis) in cattle.1983, Comparison of Wood Preservatives in Stake Tests, page 128:
  • For example, a 1940s claim attributed to DDT, without a shred of evidence, a mysterious cattle disease known as X-disease (discussed further in appendix 4).2016, Donald Roberts, Richard Tren, Roger Bate, The Excellent Powder: DDT's Political and Scientific History, page 187:
  • Among these are Prunus X-disease, pear decline, elm phloem necrosis, apple proliferation, the witches'—broom diseases of paulownia and jujube, and the greening and stubborn diseases of citrus.2012, Karl Maramorosch, Mycoplasma Diseases of Trees and Shrubs, page 35:

Origin of X-disease

From the convention of using "X" as a variable to stand for something unknown.

Words formed from X-disease

Questions about X-disease

What does X-disease mean?
X-disease means hyperkeratosis in cattle.
How do you use X-disease in a sentence?
Crankcase oils may contain chlorinated naphthalenes, which have been reported to contribute to "X-disease" (hyperkeratosis) in cattle.
What part of speech is X-disease?
X-disease is a proper noun.
How do you pronounce X-disease?
X-disease is pronounced /ˈɛks.dɪ.ziz/ (US).

Words near X-disease in the dictionary

  1. X-country
  2. X-craft
  3. X-Day
  4. X-Days
  5. x-direction
  6. X-disease
  7. x-div.
  8. x-dressing
  9. x-factor
  10. x-factors
  11. X-Filesy

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: X-disease (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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