noun

• 1A social phenomenon viewed as an evil or inconvenience.

  ‘a town where the two main social diseases are interbreeding and illiteracy’

  More example sentences

  • ‘overconsumption has become a social disease that has reached epidemic proportions’

• 2dated A sexually transmitted disease.

  ‘Sadly, actual sex may not produce the same effect because it exposes you to social diseases that may increase the risk of a problematic prostate.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘All you have to do with this social custom is to grab the other person first and make kissy-kissy noises beside their ear, while muttering, ‘Don't get too close to me, I've got a social disease.’’
  • ‘A major cookie manufacturer reported catastrophic third-quarter earnings after a model carrying a plug for its line of products died of a social disease.’
  • ‘Self-exiled to the Marquesas archipelago, after a burst of profound creativity, he expired miserably in 1903 from the effects of social diseases and more-than-social drinking.’
  • ‘In the past 20 years, the number of people contracting social diseases has increased rapidly in China.’
  • ‘They spread their social diseases with careless aggression.’