tubercle

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: tu=ber=cle

CIDE DICTIONARY

tubercle, n. [L. tuberculum, dim. of tuber: cf. F. tubercule, OF. also tubercle. See Tuber.].

•  A small knoblike prominence or excrescence, whether natural or morbid; as, a tubercle on a plant; a tubercle on a bone; the tubercles appearing on the body in leprosy.  [1913 Webster]
•  A small mass or aggregation of morbid matter; especially, the deposit which accompanies scrofula or phthisis. This is composed of a hard, grayish, or yellowish, translucent or opaque matter, which gradually softens, and excites suppuration in its vicinity. It is most frequently found in the lungs, causing consumption.  [1913 Webster]

Tubercle bacillus (Med.), a minute vegetable organism (Mycobacterium tuberculosis, formerly Bacillus tuberculosis, and also called Koch's bacillus) discovered by Koch, a German physician, in the sputum of consumptive patients and in tuberculous tissue. It is the causative agent of tuberculosis.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

tubercle, n.
1 a small rounded protuberance esp. on a bone.
2 a small rounded swelling on the body or in an organ, esp. a nodular lesion characteristic of tuberculosis in the lungs etc.
3 a small tuber; a wartlike growth.

Idiom

tubercle bacillus a bacterium causing tuberculosis.

Derivative

tuberculate adj. tuberculous adj.

Etymology

L tuberculum, dimin. of tuber: see TUBER

THESAURUS

tubercle

abscess, aposteme, bed sore, bilge, blain, bleb, blister, blob, boil, boss, bow, bubble, bubo, bulb, bulbil, bulge, bulla, bump, bunch, bunion, burl, button, cahot, canker, canker sore, carbuncle, chancre, chancroid, chilblain, chine, clump, cold sore, condyle, convex, corm, dowel, ear, eschar, felon, fester, festering, fever blister, fistula, flange, flap, furuncle, furunculus, gall, gathering, gnarl, gumboil, handle, hemorrhoids, hill, hump, hunch, jog, joggle, kibe, knob, knot, knur, knurl, lesion, lip, loop, lump, mole, mountain, nevus, nub, nubbin, nubble, papilloma, papula, papule, paronychia, parulis, peg, petechia, piles, pimple, pock, polyp, pustule, radicle, radix, rhizome, rib, ridge, ring, rising, root, rootstock, scab, shoulder, soft chancre, sore, spine, stigma, stud, sty, style, suppuration, swelling, tab, tap, taproot, tuber, tubercule, ulcer, ulceration, verruca, vesicle, wale, wart, welt, wheal, whelk, whitlow, wound

ROGET THESAURUS

tubercle

Convexity

N convexity, prominence, projection, swelling, gibbosity, bilge, bulge, protuberance, protrusion, camber, cahot, thank-ye-ma'am, swell, intumescence, tumour, tumor, tubercle, tuberosity, excrescence, hump, hunch, bunch, boss, embossment, hub, hubble, tooth, knob, elbow, process, apophysis, condyle, bulb, node, nodule, nodosity, tongue, dorsum, bump, clump, sugar loaf, bow, mamelon, molar, belly, corporation, pot belly, gut, withers, back, shoulder, lip, flange, pimple, zit, wen, wheel, papula, pustule, pock, proud flesh, growth, sarcoma, caruncle, corn, wart, pappiloma, furuncle, polypus, fungus, fungosity, exostosis, bleb, blister, blain, boil, airbubble, blob, papule, verruca, papilla, nipple, teat, tit, titty, boob, knocker, pap, breast, dug, mammilla, proboscis, nose, neb, beak, snout, nozzle, schnoz, peg, button, stud, ridge, rib, jutty, trunnion, snag, cupola, dome, arch, balcony, eaves, pilaster, relief, relievo, cameo, bassorilievo, mezzorilevo, altorivievo, low relief, bas relief, high relief, hill, cape, promontory, mull, forehead, foreland, point of land, mole, jetty, hummock, ledge, spur, naze, ness, convex, prominent, protuberant, projecting, bossed, embossed, bossy, nodular, bunchy, clavate, clavated, claviform, hummocky, moutonne, mammiliform, papulous, papilose, hemispheric, bulbous, bowed, arched, bold, bellied, tuberous, tuberculous, tumous, cornute, odontoid, lentiform, lenticular, gibbous, club shaped, hubby, hubbly, knobby, papillose, saddle-shaped, selliform, subclavate, torose, ventricose, verrucose, salient, in relief, raised, repousse, bloated, (expanded).