Meanings
- uncountablemedicineAn acute viral inflammation of the sensory ganglia of spinal and cranial nerves associated with a vesicular eruption and neuralgic pains, caused by reactivation of the Human herpes virus 3, in genus Varicellovirus, that also causes chicken pox as primoinfection.
From the description, Letha felt sure Jane had herpes zoster, or shingles, which often strikes cancer patients or others with depressed immune systems. Jane spent another week in the Bubble, treated with acyclovir.
2005, Donald Hall, The Best Day the Worst Day: Life with Jane Kenyon, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, →ISBN, page 98Synonyms: shingles
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAn acute viral inflammation of the sensory ganglia of spinal and cranial nerves associated with a vesicular eruption and neuralgic pains, caused by reactivation of the Human herpes virus 3, in genus Varicellovirus, that also causes chicken pox as primoinfection.
More synonyms by meaning
nouneruptions along a nerve path often accompanied by severe neuralgia
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Cite this entry
herpes zoster. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/herpes%20zoster
“herpes zoster.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/herpes%20zoster. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “herpes zoster,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/herpes%20zoster.
Source: herpes zoster on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.