dementia pugilistica

American  

[dih-men-shuh pyoo-juh-lis-ti-kuh, ‐shee-uh] / dɪˈmɛn ʃə ˌpyu dʒəˈlɪs tɪ kə, ‐ʃi ə /

noun

1. CTE.

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Etymology

Origin of dementia pugilistica

First recorded in 1925–30; dementia ( def. ) + pugilistica (from Latin pugil “boxer”; see pugilism ( def. )); the disease was first identified in boxers

Example Sentences

“A pension plan should take care of you for life,” said Ramos, who has several medical conditions, including dementia pugilistica, a type of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, linked to repeated head trauma.

From Los Angeles Times • May 11, 2023

It’s not that CTE is a foreign concept; the neurodegenerative disease has been likened to boxing’s dementia pugilistica.

From Washington Times • Sep. 2, 2015

Put another way, 35 men on the pitch in Phoenix can be expected to endure early-onset Alzheimer’s or dementia pugilistica for the entertainment of everyone else.

From Economist • Jan. 29, 2015

They used to call it dementia pugilistica and before that by less scientific names: Athletes were punch drunk; they were slap happy; they were paper dolls, or punchie, or goofy, or slug nutty.

From Slate • May 9, 2012

Even before science asserted the link in the late 1920s, naming the condition dementia pugilistica, the term “punch drunk” had entered common parlance.

From Washington Post