phthisis

[thahy-sis, tahy-]

noun

Pathology.

1. a wasting away.

2. pulmonary tuberculosis; consumption.

phthisis

/ ˈfθaɪ-, ˈtaɪ-, ˈθaɪsɪs /

noun

1. any disease that causes wasting of the body, esp pulmonary tuberculosis

Word History and Origins

Origin of phthisis¹

1515–25; < Greek phthísis lung disease, literally, a wasting away, equivalent to phthí ( ein ) to decay + -sis -sis

Word History and Origins

Origin of phthisis¹

C16: via Latin from Greek: a wasting away, from phthinein to waste away

Example Sentences

I then forwarded the collection to Washington as ordered except one Ogalalla skull of a young squaw that died of phthisis.

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The city is full of phthisis; the insanitary conditions under which the vast majority of the inhabitants live favour its rapid dissemination.

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A toothache produces more violent convulsions of pain than a phthisis or a dropsy.

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We must take the world as we find it, full of men and women predisposed to tubercular phthisis, and with no idea of its contagious nature.

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Phthisis may be developed in consequence of an attack of influenza, and if phthisis be already established it is apt to run a more rapid course.

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