Definition of "miasma" []

• A noxious atmosphere or influence: "The family affection, the family expectations, seemed to permeate the atmosphere . . . like a coiling miasma” ( Louis Auchincloss). (noun)
• A poisonous atmosphere formerly thought to rise from swamps and putrid matter and cause disease. (noun)
• A thick vaporous atmosphere or emanation: wreathed in a miasma of cigarette smoke. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Again, exposition; but a key thing to consider: the Greek concept of miasma is at play here."
• "I find the best way to address this miasma is with a high-end programmable universal remote."
• "Micael Ewans, The Everyman Library, 1996), miasma is defined as: "Pollution; the word embraces both literal dirt and what we would call psychic pollution incurred by breaches of taboo, e.e. bloodshed.""