SARS

S1A1R1S1

A form of severe acute respiratory syndrome — A form of pneumonia resulting from infection by a coronavirus characterized by fever, myalgia, lethargy and coughing and which can be fatal.

Similar
severe acute respiratory syndrome
Less commonScrabble 4
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Meanings

SARS1

nounSARS (uncountable)
  1. abbreviationacronymuncountablemedicineAcronym of severe acute respiratory syndrome; also Sars.

    SARS set off a panic about global spread and contagion.

    2010, Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Emperor of All Maladies, Fourth Estate (2011), page 182
    2 more examples

    Coronaviruses are worrying because epidemics caused by other members of the viral family, SARS and MERS, have had high death rates: 10 percent for SARS, and about 35 percent for MERS.

    2020 January 24, Denise Grady, “Chicago woman is second patient in U.S. with Wuhan coronavirus”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC

    Dad bends down so we're eye to eye and goes over all the risks of the coronavirus again—pneumonia, difficulty breathing, and even death. I swallow hard. "This is serious," he says. "It could be like SARS all over again."

    2022, Kelly Yang, New From Here, page 1
proper noun
  1. NigeriaabbreviationinitialismgovernmentInitialism of Special Anti-Robbery Squad, a Nigerian police unit known for police brutality and corruption.
  2. South AfricaabbreviationinitialismInitialism of South African Revenue Service.

Sars2

nounSars (uncountable)
  1. abbreviationacronymuncountablemedicineAcronym of severe acute respiratory syndrome, also SARS.

    The WHO’s response to Sars was considered a huge success. Fewer than 1,000 people worldwide died of the disease, despite it reaching a total of 26 countries.

    2020 April 10, Stephen Buranyi, “The WHO v coronavirus: why it can't handle the pandemic”, in The Guardian

Sars3

proper noun
  1. pluralplural of Sar

SARs4

noun
  1. pluralplural of SAR

Synonyms & antonyms

nouna respiratory disease of unknown etiology that apparently originated in mainland China in 2003; characterized by fever and coughing or difficulty breathing or hypoxia; can be fatal

Similar
severe acute respiratory syndrome
Broader
coronavirus disease
Also see
severe acute respiratory syndrome

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Translations

Chinese Cantonese 沙士
  • 沙士severe acute respiratory syndrome
Chinese Mandarin 非典, SARS
  • 非典 (fēidiǎn)severe acute respiratory syndrome
  • SARSsevere acute respiratory syndrome
  • 薩斯 /萨斯 (sàsī)severe acute respiratory syndrome
Dutch SARS
  • SARSsevere acute respiratory syndrome
Finnish SARS
  • SARSsevere acute respiratory syndrome
French SRAS
  • SRASsevere acute respiratory syndrome
German SARS
  • SARSsevere acute respiratory syndrome
Hungarian súlyos akut légzőszervi szindróma
  • súlyos akut légzőszervi szindrómasevere acute respiratory syndrome
Japanese サーズ
  • サーズ (sāzu)severe acute respiratory syndrome
Korean 사스, 싸스
  • 사스 (saseu)severe acute respiratory syndrome
  • 싸스 (ssaseu)severe acute respiratory syndrome
Polish SARS
  • SARSsevere acute respiratory syndrome
Portuguese SARS
  • SARSsevere acute respiratory syndrome
Spanish SRAS
  • SRASsevere acute respiratory syndrome
Cite this entry
APA

SARS. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/SARS

MLA

“SARS.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/SARS. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “SARS,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/SARS.

Source: SARS on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.