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• -osis
  -osis

  a suffix occurring in nouns that denote actions, conditions, or states (hypnosis; leukocytosis; osmosis ), especially disorders or abnormal states (chlorosis; neurofibromatosis; tuberculosis ).
• –osis
  –osis

  A suffix that means:

-osis

American  

1. a suffix occurring in nouns that denote actions, conditions, or states (hypnosis; leukocytosis; osmosis ), especially disorders or abnormal states (chlorosis; neurofibromatosis; tuberculosis ).

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-osis British  

suffix

1. indicating a process or state

   metamorphosis

2. indicating a diseased condition Compare -iasis

   tuberculosis

3. indicating the formation or development of something

   fibrosis

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–osis Scientific  

1. A suffix that means:

2. Diseased condition, as in tuberculosis.

3. Condition or process, as in osmosis.

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Etymology

Origin of -osis

On the model of Greek borrowings ending in Greek -ōsis, as sklērōsis sclerosis, derived originally from verbs ending in the formative -o- ( -ō- in noun derivatives), with the suffix -sis -sis

Example Sentences

The others end in -osis, meaning that there is something wrong and that it is not inflammation, but beyond that the doctors are stumped.

From Time Magazine Archive