leukopenia

Or leu·co·pe·ni·a

[loo-kuh-pee-nee-uh]

noun

Medicine/Medical.

1. a decrease in the number of white blood cells in the blood.

Other Word Forms

• leukopenic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of leukopenia¹

1895–1900; < New Latin leucopenia, equivalent to leuco- leuko- + Greek penía poverty, akin to pénesthai to be poor, toil; -ia

Example Sentences

Skaar’s lawyers told the Supreme Court that he suffers from leukopenia, described as a condition that can be caused by exposure to radiation.

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Dorchy, his mother said, has a blood disorder called leukopenia, which leaves his immune system weakened.

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Uncomplicated measles too, generally runs its course with a marked leukopenia, specially distinct during the breaking out and at the height of the exanthem.

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Eosinophils and basophils way up—twenty and fifteen per cent respectively—a relative rise rather than an absolute one—leukopenia, no doubt about it.

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These cases of infectious leukopenia are to be explained, not by a destruction of white corpuscles, but rather by a diminished inflow, brought about by the circulation of substances negatively chemiotactic for the polynuclear elements.

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