diagnostic

American  

[dahy-uhg-nos-tik] / ˌdaɪ əgˈnɒs tɪk /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or used in diagnosis.

2. serving to identify or characterize; being a precise indication.

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noun

• diagnostics
  plural

1. diagnosis.

2. a symptom or characteristic of value in diagnosis.

3. Medicine/Medical. a device or substance used for the analysis or detection of diseases or other medical conditions.

4. Computers.

   1. a message output by a computer diagnosing an error in a computer program, computer system, or component device.

   2. a program or subroutine that produces such messages.

diagnostic British  

/ ˌdaɪəɡˈnɒstɪk /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or of value in diagnosis

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noun

1. med any symptom that provides evidence for making a specific diagnosis

2. a diagnosis

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• postdiagnostic
  adjective
• prediagnostic
  adjective
• diagnostically
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• diagnostics
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of diagnostic

1615–25; < Greek diagnōstikós, equivalent to diagnōst ( ós ) distinguished (akin to diágnōsis; see diagnosis) + -ikos -ic

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Explanation

Anything diagnostic has to do with disease, especially figuring out which one a patient has. If your doctor wants to run diagnostic tests, then she isn't exactly sure what's wrong with you — so the tests will help diagnose you (figure out what's wrong). The TV show House is all about diagnostic tests: it features illnesses that are unusual and hard to determine. But anything diagnostic is trying to figure out what's wrong. A writing test could be called diagnostic if it's trying to determine how good or bad your writing skills are.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

diagnostic diagnostics

By examining how these neural signals differ among individuals, researchers may eventually develop additional diagnostic tools or better identify autistic people who are likely to benefit from particular forms of support, including social skills therapy.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 28, 2026

“When she was talking about some subject other than diagnostic testing, she was very unprepossessing, very disingenuous,” said Fortune magazine reporter Roger Parloff.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2026

"It's a fundamental number that tells us specifically about the conditions of our Universe in its first five minutes. It has diagnostic power that speaks directly to the Standard Model of Physics."

From Science Daily ● Oct. 20, 2026

A full diagnostic panel informs every guest’s customized itinerary.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026

Then, they had me run a full diagnostic on the MAV.

From "The Martian" by Andy Weir

The pharma business reported sales growth that was ahead of both Vontobel’s and consensus estimates, while the group’s diagnostics division fell short of expectations, he adds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026

One particularly promising application involves medical diagnostics and pharmaceutical research.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2026

A.I.-powered diagnostics distill all of this into one clear picture of your entire body, in 360-degree, piercing-into-the-soul, high-resolution detail.

From Slate ● Oct. 8, 2026

A visit includes a scan, labs and other diagnostics.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026

Perhaps I was nothing more than a victim of modern diagnostics; in another century it would have been said of me that I was old and therefore losing my mind.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan

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