cretinism

[ kreet-n-iz-uhm or, especially British, kret- ]

/ ˈkrit nˌɪz əm or, especially British, ˈkrɛt- /

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noun Pathology.

(no longer in technical use) a congenital disease due to absence or deficiency of normal thyroid secretion, characterized by physical deformity, dwarfism, and intellectual disability, and often by goiter: This condition is now diagnosed as congenital hypothyroidism or congenital iodine deficiency.

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Origin of cretinism

First recorded in 1795–1800; from French crétinisme; see cretin, -ism

Words nearby cretinism

Cretan, Cretan bull, Crete, cretic, cretin, cretinism, cretinize, cretonne, cretons, Creusa, Creuse

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use cretinism in a sentence

Certainly, and you can think yourself happy, until gradually a contented cretinism steals over you, body and mind.
The Man Between|Amelia E. Barr
Such children, in their mental hebetude and physical degeneracy, suggest a degree of cretinism.
Feminism and Sex-Extinction|Arabella Kenealy
The Swiss have similar feelings as to those of their families whom cretinism has reduced to idiocy.
Woman in the Nineteenth Century|Margaret Fuller Ossoli
Not being aware of this act of cretinism, she went at him on the marriage business with a hopeful spirit.
Miss Ravenel's conversion from secession to loyalty|J. W. de Forest

The peculiar disease called cretinism, as well as goitre, has been attributed to a predominance of certain chemicals in the soil.
The Home Medical Library, Volume V (of VI)|Various

British Dictionary definitions for cretinism

cretinism

/ (ˈkrɛtɪˌnɪzəm) /

noun

old-fashioned a condition arising from a deficiency of thyroid hormone, present from birth, characterized by dwarfism and mental retardationSee also myxoedema

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

cretinism

Origin of cretinism

Words nearby cretinism

Words related to cretinism

How to use cretinism in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for cretinism