How to Use phlegm in a Sentence

phlegm

noun
  • He displayed remarkable phlegm in very dangerous conditions.
  • Cough, which may produce phlegm.
    — Rebecca Cohen, NBC news, 16 Oct. 2025
  • You guys, mucus—snot, boogers, slime, nose goblins, phlegm—is the best.
    — Sarah Fallon, WIRED, 28 July 2016
  • Haley said even her cat was coughing up phlegm and acting lethargic.
    — Cameron Knight, Cincinnati.com, 6 May 2020
  • Nearby, one man cleared his throat and spat an oyster of phlegm onto the sidewalk.
    — New York Times, 24 Mar. 2020
  • Cannabis may act as an expectorant, helping to clear phlegm from the lungs and throat.
    — Tribune Content Agency, The Mercury News, 15 Nov. 2024
  • Depending on what those results show, the next step can be a blood test or a phlegm sample.
    — Melody Schreiber, NPR, 2 May 2024
  • Wet coughs, also known as productive coughs, are ones that bring up phlegm or mucus.
    — Nicole Harris, Parents, 24 Aug. 2023
  • All while breathing in mists through a nebulizer to open airways and loosen phlegm.
    — Courtney Crowder, USA Today, 10 Apr. 2026
  • Herbal Products Some herbal products can help clear phlegm out of your airways.
    — Amanda Gardner, Health, 3 Sep. 2023
  • He is called Allan, a name that, when spoken out loud, sort of sounds like an attempt to clear the phlegm from your throat.
    — Vulture, 15 Dec. 2023
  • He is called Allan, a name that, when spoken out loud, sort of sounds like an attempt to clear the phlegm from your throat.
    — Vulture, 22 July 2023
  • Image Chazz Palminteri had phlegm in his throat on a recent Friday.
    — New York Times, 25 May 2018
  • From upstairs there came a grunt, the clearing of phlegm, a cough or two, more grunting, and then a voice that said, Who’s that?
    — David Means, The New Yorker, 14 Oct. 2019
  • Victims of black lung often suffer bouts of coughing that produce copious amounts of dark, inky phlegm.
    — Maya Wei-Haas, Smithsonian, 16 May 2017
  • Often, the telltale sign of an active infection is longstanding cough with phlegm and streaks of blood.
    — Eduardo Cuevas, USA TODAY, 29 Jan. 2025
  • Both viruses and bacterial infections can cause phlegm to turn this color.
    — Dr. Oz, Good Housekeeping, 17 Jan. 2018
  • There’s a wet, formative gurgle as someone down the block hocks a magnificent wad of phlegm into the street.
    — Cassandra Landry, SFChronicle.com, 24 Oct. 2019
  • Victims of black lung also often suffer bouts of coughing that produce copious amounts of dark, inky phlegm.
    — Maya Wei-Haas, Smithsonian, 16 May 2017
  • Those sacs of air fill with fluid or pus, causing a cough with phlegm or pus, fever, chills and trouble breathing, according to the clinic.
    — Rebecca Cohen, NBC news, 16 Oct. 2025
  • When the air quality is bad enough, even healthy people can suffer wheezing, phlegm, and inflammation.
    — Eleanor Cummins, Slate Magazine, 11 Dec. 2017
  • Keegan half expected a sensory flashback to the choking heat and the taste of dusty phlegm and gunpowder residue.
    — August Cole, Wired, 5 June 2020
  • The theory contends that four fluids — blood, choler (yellow bile), phlegm and black bile — make up the body and must maintain balance for good health.
    — Sara Novak, Discover Magazine, 5 Apr. 2023
  • The second is having either 10 or more pack years of smoking, or symptoms of cough, phlegm and trouble breathing.
    — Katia Hetter, CNN Money, 28 Aug. 2025
  • And if salt and water start to move, so, too, does the phlegm that has been sitting dehydrated in the lungs of CF patients.
    — Courtney Crowder, USA Today, 10 Apr. 2026
  • For some years, my larynx has been swimming in phlegm, the result of an undetermined ratio between reflux and postnasal drip.
    — John McPhee, The New Yorker, 13 Jan. 2025
  • For instance, staying hydrated makes your mucus and phlegm thinner and, therefore, easier to clear.
    — Korin Miller, SELF, 5 Feb. 2018
  • Symptoms include a bad cough that lasts three weeks or longer, chest pain, or coughing up blood or phlegm, according to the CDC.
    — Aria Bendix, NBC News, 2 May 2023
  • The way the seasons withered crops or provoked tree sap to flow might manifest in the body as yellow bile surging in the summer and cold, wet phlegm dripping in the winter.
    — Meg Leja, Smithsonian Magazine, 10 Nov. 2023
  • So if someone’s four humors—black bile, yellow bile, blood, and phlegm—were seen to be out of balance, they’d likely be advised to avoid certain tastes, and eat more of others.
    — Aaron Gilbreath, Longreads, 22 July 2017

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'phlegm.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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