Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
One time when Jesus was in the company of Pharisees, the religious leaders of his day, there was a man present suffering from the dropsy (now called edema).—
Tony Lobl,
Christian Science Monitor,
9 July 2025 By December 1826, Beethoven was quite ill, suffering from a second bout of jaundice and swollen limbs, fever, dropsy, and labored breathing.—
Jennifer Ouellette,
Ars Technica,
13 May 2024 This offer is valid only for townsfolk with proof of dropsy, mumps, polio, lumbago, colitis, bursitis, bites of the wolf most vile, and other afflictions covered under the purview of Clifton’s marvellous medical menagerie.—
Evan Waite,
The New Yorker,
19 May 2020
Word History
Etymology
Middle English dropesie, short for ydropesie, from Anglo-French, from Latin hydropisis, modification of Greek hydrōps, from hydōr water — more at water