adjective
-
of, relating to, or having diabetes
-
for the use of diabetics
diabetic chocolate
noun
Usage
Rather than talking about a diabetic or diabetics , it is better to talk about a person with diabetes , people with diabetes
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of diabetic
First recorded in 1790–1800; diabet(es) + -ic
Explanation
If you're a diabetic, you are a person who suffers from the disease of diabetes. Diabetics tend to have wildly varying blood sugar levels, which can sometimes be dangerous. A diabetic's pancreas typically doesn't produce enough insulin, the hormone in your body that metabolizes sugars and carbohydrates. The word diabetic is also an adjective that describes someone who has the illness or something associated with it. Your diabetic friend might need to monitor her blood sugar several times a day and follow a special diabetic diet. The word comes from the Greek, in which it means "excessive discharge of urine," one of the illness's symptoms.
Vocabulary lists containing diabetic
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Recent evidence suggests that dendritic cells become less effective at efferocytosis in diabetic wounds.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 10, 2026
A diabetic, the 65-year-old said he couldn’t afford insulin and the local clinic rarely has syringes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
If someone has diabetes, they should be getting a routine diabetic eye exam regardless.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026
Initially, we discounted this scenario because we assumed medical staff would be alerted if a diabetic patient had accidentally been given dextrose instead of insulin.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
Maten was seventy-three years old, a diabetic, and a deaconess at the Resurrection Mission Baptist Church.
From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers
The key to preventing blindness in diabetics is controlling blood sugar levels.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
As he comes from a family of diabetics, the 42-year-old is now concerned another medical issue could force him into debt once again.
From BBC ● Feb. 5, 2026
She thinks that everyone should wear a glucose monitor, a tool that is very useful for diabetics but doesn’t really do anything for the rest of us.
From Slate ● May 10, 2025
Type 1 diabetics – or anyone who wants to reduce the added sugars they're consuming – can try a few culinary tactics to lower their sugar intake while still enjoying this holiday treat.
From Salon ● Nov. 25, 2024
In addition to the daily multitude, those amateur cooks were faced with allergy cases, diabetics, nursing mothers, infants who required special feedings.
From "Farewell to Manzanar" by Jeanne Houston
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
