Definition of "pneumoconiosis" [pneumoconiosis]

• A disease of the lungs, such as asbestosis or silicosis, caused by long-continued inhalation of especially mineral or metallic dust. (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.

• "The industrial disease pneumoconiosis is caused by inhaling what?"
• "Black lung disease, also called pneumoconiosis, is caused by breathing in coal dust."
• "During that time there has been an alarming rise in coal workers' pneumoconiosis, or black lung disease, among miners in parts of southern West Virginia and neighboring Appalachian states, according to NIOSH."