Phrase guide

summit disease

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌsʌmɪt dɪˈziːz/
  • General-American: /ˌsʌmɪt dəˈziz/
  • General-American: /-dɪ-/
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -iːz

1

noun

Meaning 1

A disease (usually fungal, caused by the species complex Entomophaga grylli) that affects various species of insect, especially grasshoppers, whereby the infected individual typically climbs to the upper parts of a plant, attaches itself there and dies, at which point the infecting agent disperses itself, usually in the form of spores.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: biology, botany, medicine, natural-sciences, pathology, phytopathology, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: treetop disease

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From summit + disease, from the tendency of infected insects to climb to the upper parts of plants before dying.

Across languages

Translations

1 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • German: Gipfelkrankheit — disease that affects various species of insect