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Glite Dictionary
double pneumonia

double pneumonia

1 4.4
A lung infection that affects both lungs and causes serious breathing problems
  • noun
  • /ˈdʌbəl nuˈmoʊniə/
  • Specialized
translation icon : neumonía doble
  • But not many people walk away from double-pneumonia.
  • get double pneumonia

I was broken, my legs were broken, I had double pneumonia.

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Examples

  • How is it you never got double pneumonia?

    The Cocoanuts (1929)

  • Brother had nearly died from double pneumonia last winter.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • If a brother or sister had a cold, she got double pneumonia.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • The morning of the first night, he was too sick with double pneumonia to move if he had wanted to.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • Fell down, broke her hip, went into the hospital and caught double pneumonia.

    The Mosquito Coast (1986)

  • I could've just got double pneumonia out there.

    First Love (1977)

  • In July 2007, the child was diagnosed with double pneumonia, had foreign objects lodged in his or her lungs, and a temperature of 103 degrees.

    Blog text (23)

  • Once I had double pneumonia and had to stay home from school for a month, and Matt used to hold me up by the legs when Ma wasn't around, and the stuff in my lungs would gurgle out.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • I was in the hospital with double pneumonia for several days, fighting to breathe.

  • After being diagnosed with double pneumonia, he needed immediate treatment to recover.

Synonyms

pneumonia
vsdouble pneumonia
  • Specialized
121 4.3

A serious lung infection that makes breathing hard and causes fever

is specifically about infection affecting both lungs and often severe

How Severe

double pneumonia
  • Specialized
1 4.4
pneumonia
  • Specialized
121 4.3

Surface Forms

double pneumonia singular
double pneumonias plural

Morphology

double + pneumonia

The meaning is directly built from 'double' (twofold) + 'pneumonia' (lung infection), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer it refers to pneumonia affecting both lungs. This is a literal, descriptive medical phrase (similar to 'bilateral pneumonia') and not idiomatic, making it transparent.

Etymology

Double pneumonia comes from doctors using double to mean two and pneumonia to mean a lung infection. It describes an infection in 'both lungs', so it often makes breathing very hard and needs more treatment.