autism

American  

[aw-tiz-uhm] / ˈɔ tɪz əm /

noun

Psychiatry.

• autisms
  plural

1. a developmental disability of highly variable presentation, commonly characterized by social and communication differences, repetitive behaviors, intense specialized interests, and differences in sensory processing; autism spectrum disorder.

2. Sometimes classic autism (no longer in clinical use) a developmental disability that commonly manifests in early childhood, characterized by repetitive or restricted behaviors, differences in understanding social interactions, and delayed development of linguistic and cognitive abilities: formerly contrasted with Asperger syndrome.

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autism British  

/ ˈɔːtɪzəm /

noun

1. psychiatry a developmental disorder whose symptoms include difficulty in responding conventionally to people and actions and limited use of communication

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Usage

Rather than talking about an autistic or autistics , it is better to use phrases such as a person with autism and people with autism

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• autist
  noun
• autistic
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• autisms
  plural

Etymology

Origin of autism

First recorded in 1910–15, for an earlier sense; coined in 1944 by Austrian-American psychiatrist Leo Kanner (1894–1981), for the current sense (in the phrase infantile autism ); from German Autismus (in the earlier sense), from New Latin; aut- + -ism

Explanation

Autism is a neurological condition that's marked by differences in learning styles, passionate interests in specific subjects, repetitive motion, and sometimes difficulty with language and communication. The word autism is taken directly from the Greek root auto, meaning “self.” Because autistic people may display a wide variety of characteristics, autism is defined as a range of conditions, known as the autism spectrum. This spectrum varies from those who have a hard time with social interaction to people who aren't able to speak. In some cases, autism is a diagnosis given by a doctor, while in others it's embraced by a person who self-identifies as autistic. A person who has autism is described as autistic.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

autism autisms

Coco, 18, has autism and OCD, and Benjamin, 15, has pathological demand avoidance and ADHD.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

They gave the example of children aged six to 17 – more than 4% have been diagnosed with autism.

From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026

They also said Schecter had autism spectrum disorder and anxiety and said the evidence was “more complicated than the headlines suggested.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026

About 1,300 members of the public joined a search to find Noah, who police said was non-verbal, partially deaf and had been undergoing an assessment for autism.

From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026

The classic model for understanding what it means to lose the ability to mind-read is the condition of autism.

From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell

The variety of phenotypes and large number of genes that have been implicated in this disorder have led researchers to refer to the characteristics as autisms described by a spectrum of disorders, ASD.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022