chorea

American  

[kuh-ree-uh, kaw-, koh-] / kəˈri ə, kɔ-, koʊ- /

noun

Pathology.

1. any of several diseases of the nervous system characterized by jerky, involuntary movements, chiefly of the face and extremities.

2. Also called St. Vitus's dance.  such a disease occurring chiefly in children and associated with rheumatic fever.

3. Veterinary Pathology. a disease of the central nervous system caused by bacterial or organic degeneration, most common in dogs following canine distemper, characterized by irregular, jerky, involuntary muscular movements.

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chorea British  

/ kɒˈrɪə /

noun

1. a disorder of the central nervous system characterized by uncontrollable irregular brief jerky movements See Huntington's disease Sydenham's chorea

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Other Word Forms

• choreal adjective
• choreatic adjective
• choreic adjective
• choreoid adjective

Etymology

Origin of chorea

1680–90; < Greek choreía a dance, equivalent to chor ( ós ) chorus + -eia -y ³

Example Sentences

This “pathological compensation”, as Nopoulos calls it, could explain why youngsters with Huntington’s disease seem to skip the chorea stage of the condition and go straight to stiffness.

From Nature • May 29, 2018

Its symptoms are well-characterized: involuntary, jerky movements known as chorea; difficulty in coordinating voluntary movements; cognitive impairment; and psychiatric issues such as changes in mood.

From Nature • May 29, 2018

This process, known as protein folding, can go awry, causing such neurological disorders as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s chorea, as well as cystic fibrosis and some cancers.

From New York Times • Oct. 28, 2016

When one parent carries the deadly and dominant gene for Huntington's chorea, for example, there is a 50% chance that any offspring will have it too.

From Time Magazine Archive

And she had developed no chorea from her distemper.

From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck