diagnose
Americanverb (used with object)
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diagnoses,
present (3rd person singular)
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diagnosed,
past participle, past
-
diagnosing
present participle
-
to determine the identity of (a disease, illness, etc.) by a medical examination.
The doctor diagnosed the illness as influenza.
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to ascertain the cause or nature of (a disorder, malfunction, problem, etc.) from the symptoms.
The mechanic diagnosed the trouble that caused the engine knock.
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to classify or determine on the basis of scientific examination.
verb (used without object)
-
diagnoses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
diagnosed,
past participle, past
-
diagnosing
present participle
verb
-
to determine or distinguish by diagnosis
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(tr) to examine (a person or thing), as for a disease
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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underdiagnoseverb (used with object)
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diagnosableadjective
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undiagnosableadjective
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undiagnosedadjective
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well-diagnosedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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diagnosesimple
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diagnosessimple
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have diagnosedperfect
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has diagnosedperfect
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am diagnosingprogressive
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are diagnosingprogressive
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is diagnosingprogressive
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have been diagnosingperfect progressive
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has been diagnosingperfect progressive
Past
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diagnosedsimple
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had diagnosedperfect
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was diagnosingprogressive
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were diagnosingprogressive
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had been diagnosingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of diagnose
First recorded in 1860–65; back formation from diagnosis
Explanation
If you diagnose a disease, you recognize it by the signs and symptoms your patient shows. Your high temperature and the green crud you keep coughing up will allow your doctor to diagnose your bronchitis. The verb diagnose was first used in medicine, meaning "make a diagnosis," or identify a disease by observation of symptoms. Use it to describe the process of figuring it out. If you have bad gut pain, ask your doctor to diagnose your condition. You can also use diagnose for other problems, like if you diagnose poverty and malnutrition as the real causes of a student's terrible behavior, or diagnose the virus that caused your computer to crash.
Vocabulary lists containing diagnose
100 Great Words from "Fahrenheit 451" -- Part I Vocabulary
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Mother's Day Words: What Mothers Do
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“About Edward Jenner” from the Jenner Institute
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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:
Even in some of the most severe cases, hormone levels sometimes dropped below the minimum thresholds typically used to diagnose primary aldosteronism.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 14, 2026
Farmers previously needed to wait for samples to be sent to a laboratory to confirm bluetongue but the government said vets would now be able to diagnose the disease after examining the animals.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
AI models are helping diagnose cancer at earlier stages and develop cures.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
New leadership has recently made an effort to diagnose the chain’s problems — cutting the dividend and pulling the company’s full-year forecast in an effort to drive a bigger turnaround effort.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 8, 2026
In the early stages they can’t diagnose it.
From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood
There are also a number of applications in medicine, as scientists use AI to help spot cancers, review X-ray results, speed up diagnoses and identify new treatments.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
Because government agencies don’t require hospitals to track or report overall ectopic diagnoses, it is impossible to know whether the condition itself is becoming more common.
From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026
Participants were followed through the end of 2021, and medical records were examined for diagnoses of all-cause dementia.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 8, 2026
When complex medical diagnoses emerge, Medicare Advantage subscribers often ditch their plans and switch to traditional Medicare, but making that change can be difficult and expensive.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026
At the time Theresa had not dared to; and though later she’d learned to talk professionally — to present cases — past differential diagnoses and treatment plans, she managed nothing.
From "Typical American" by Gish Jen
He said the film sought not only to amplify the community's voice but to offer support to those diagnosed with the disease.
From Barron's ● Sep. 14, 2026
But cancer is increasingly being diagnosed in younger adults, and each newer generation appears to face a greater risk than the one before it.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 14, 2026
At age 32, he was diagnosed with a rare type of muscular dystrophy and has since pledged $100 million of his own money to find a cure.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
She was sent home and told to return for more tests after being diagnosed with a “pregnancy of unknown location,” because an ultrasound could not show where her pregnancy had implanted, according to a lawsuit.
From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026
He diagnosed me with whooping cough and instructed Grandmother and Mother to take all the rugs off the floor and draperies off the windows at our house.
From "March Forward, Girl" by Melba Pattillo Beals
I’m also a physician, trained in a profession that asks us to take action by identifying risk factors, diagnosing diseases, and intervening whenever possible.
From Slate ● Aug. 29, 2026
After I read the diary, my efforts to evaluate the government’s response shifted from assessing operational efficacy to diagnosing a crisis of institutional legitimacy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
These particles may offer new biomarkers for diagnosing Alzheimer's disease and determining how far it has progressed.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 22, 2026
Even today, pathologists diagnosing disorders such as Alzheimer's disease typically inspect a handful of tissue samples from an organ containing some 86 billion neurons.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
Doctors would do better in these cases if they knew less about their patients—if, that is, they had no idea whether the people they were diagnosing were white or black, male or female.
From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell
Definitions 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.
