Meaning & use
lunger
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Meaning
nouncountableoffensiveold-fashionedslang
An old, now insulting slang word for a person with lung disease, especially tuberculosis.
Grammar: Old American slang, not used politely today.
Patterns
- a lunger in a sanatorium
Old novels sometimes call a person with tuberculosis a lunger.
The historian noted that lunger was once common slang in mountain sanatoriums.
Today the term lunger would be considered rude.
Word forms
| plural | lungers |
|---|
Common combinations
- call someone a lunger
- In old stories, people would call a coughing patient a lunger.
- a lunger in the sanatorium
- The nurse looked after every lunger in the sanatorium.
- lungers' ward
- The lungers' ward was kept quiet and cool.
Synonyms and how they differ
- consumptive
- Consumptive is an older, more formal word for someone with tuberculosis and is less insulting than lunger.
- patient
- Patient is the neutral modern word and is respectful, unlike lunger.
- invalid
- Invalid is an old term for someone who is chronically ill, but it does not specify lung disease.
Word family
Commonly confused: lunger or lounger?
lunger vs lounger
A lounger is a reclining chair used for relaxing outdoors, nothing to do with lungs.
Practice
Why should the word lunger be avoided today?
Choose one answer.
Lunger is outdated slang that can insult people with lung disease. The garden chair is a lounger, and neither of the other options is correct.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “lunger”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.