| 词组 | tubercular, tuberculous |
| 释义 | tubercular, tuberculous The cause of tuberculosis was not discovered until Robert Koch isolated the tubercle bacillus in 1882. Before that time, tubercular and tuberculous were used more or less interchangeably to describe both the nodular lesions (tubercles) characteristic of several diseases and the diseases themselves. After 1882, however, tuberculous began to be limited in scientific application to lesions and diseases caused specifically by the tubercle bacillus. Similar lesions and diseases having a different cause were to be described as tubercular. The National Tuberculosis Association passed a resolution calling for the distinction to be observed "in the interests of clearness and uniformity of nomenclature" in 1906, and the NTA was energetic in promoting the distinction afterward. It apparently did so fairly successfully in medical circles, but its attempts to influence general usage met with predictable failure. In current English, a person suffering from tuberculosis is likely to be described by his doctor as tuberculous and by his friends as tubercular. In general, tubercular is a more common word than tuberculous. Its usual meaning is "of, relating to, or affected with tuberculosis": • ... the care of crippled children and tubercular patients —Britannica Book of the Year 1944 • ... featuring Miss Fonda as a tubercular young lady —Current Biography, July 1964 • ... for he was tubercular all his life —John Wain, N. Y. Times Book Rev., 20 July 1980 It is also sometimes used as a noun meaning "a person affected with tuberculosis": • ... a grisly novelette about a tubercular who marries to escape a domineering mama —Time, 12 May 1952 • It banned tuberculars and mental patients —Judith & Neil Morgan, Town & Country, August 1979 Tuberculous occasionally occurs in general contexts: • ... found the tuberculous rich coming again to the magic mountain —Time, 8 Nov. 1948 But it is most likely to occur in medical writing: • ... the technique of radically excising tuberculous lungs —George Day, in Modern Treatment Year Book 1951, ed. Cecil Wakeley • ... indicates the presence of tuberculous lesions containing living tubercle bacilli —JAMA, 25 Feb. 1956 A distinction in the meanings of tubercular and tuberculous is observed by doctors but not by their patients. Unless you happen to be writing an article for a medical journal, you need not worry about which word to use. |
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