Wiktionary:Word of the day/2021/April 15

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leprous adj

Relating to or infected with one of the diseases known as leprosy. Similar to leprosy or its symptoms. Having the appearance of the skin of one infected with leprosy; flaking, peeling, scabby, scurfy. (figuratively, archaic) Immoral, or corrupted or tainted in some manner; also, ostracized, shunned. (alchemy, historical) Of gold or other metals: contaminated with other substances; impure. (botany, archaic) Synonym of leprose (“covered with thin, scurfy scales; lepidote”) (obsolete) Causing leprosy or a disease resembling it. The Belgian Roman Catholic priest Saint Damien De Veuster, better known as Father Damien, died on this day in 1889. He ministered to people with leprosy in Molokai, Hawaii, from 1873 until his death from the disease, and was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009.

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