dyslexia

American  

[dis-lek-see-uh] / dɪsˈlɛk si ə /

noun

1. any of various reading disorders associated with difficulty decoding written language and integrating auditory and visual information, such as the association of phonemes with letter combinations in spelling.

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dyslexia British  

/ dɪsˈlɛksɪə /

noun

1. Nontechnical name: word blindness. a developmental disorder which can cause learning difficulty in one or more of the areas of reading, writing, and numeracy

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dyslexia Scientific  

/ dĭs-lĕk′sē-ə /

1. A learning disability marked by impairment of the ability to recognize and comprehend written words.

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dyslexia Cultural  

1. Difficulty in reading when experienced by persons with normal vision and normal or above-normal intelligence. A common example of dyslexia is reading words with the letters in reverse order, as in fyl for fly.

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Usage

Rather than talking about a person being dyslexic or about dyslexics , it is better to talk about a person with dyslexia , people with dyslexia

Other Word Forms

• dyslectic
  adjective
• dyslexic
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of dyslexia

First recorded in 1885–90; from New Latin, from Greek dys- dys- + léx(is) “speech, text, word” ( see lexis) + -ia -ia

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Explanation

Dyslexia is a reading disorder. People who have dyslexia have trouble matching the sounds in words with the letters and letter combinations that make those sounds. Dyslexia is from the Greek roots dys, "difficult," and lexis, "word." Although dyslexia literally means "difficulty with words," someone who has dyslexia may also have trouble in other areas like math, telling time, or even telling left and right. However, there's no lack of intelligence associated with dyslexia: famous dyslexics include Thomas Edison, John Lennon, and Whoopi Goldberg.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dyslexia

Aggression and anger existed in my life because I didn’t understand what happened to me with dyslexia and how I felt about myself.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026

"I was an underachiever. My dyslexia was not identified until my last year in school."

From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026

In recent years, Newsom has published a book for children with dyslexia and a memoir, “Young Man in a Hurry.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026

Elijah’s teachers had noticed he was reading slowly and helped diagnose him with dyslexia last fall, Flint said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026

Both girls had their names stitched in cursive on their uniforms, but with my dyslexia, the words looked like meaningless spaghetti.

From "The Battle of the Labyrinth" by Rick Riordan

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