A disease that is transmitted sexually, such as syphilis, gonhorrea, chlamydia, or
genital herpes. This term was very common until the
advent of the 1990s, when medical professionals began preferring the term
sexually transmitted disease, or STD.
They rarely use the term venereal disease anymore, because it sounds like a
singular disease rather than one of any number of sexually transmitted diseases. So instead of saying "Joe has
VD," now we say "Joe has an
STD."
