myasthenia gravis

American

noun

Pathology.

a disease of impaired transmission of motor nerve impulses, characterized by episodic muscle weakness and easy fatigability, especially of the face, tongue, neck, and respiratory muscles: caused by autoimmune destruction of acetylcholine receptors. MG

myasthenia gravis British

/ ˈɡrɑːvɪs /

noun

a chronic progressive disease in which the muscles, esp those of the head and face, become weak and easily fatigued

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of myasthenia gravis

1895–1900; < New Latin: serious muscle weakness

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:

myasthenia gravis

Germinal center cells also play an important role in certain autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis and myasthenia gravis.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026

The firm helped build, for example, a tool that screens for a rare neuromuscular disorder called myasthenia gravis.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026

His longtime partner, Keely Stahl, said the cause was myasthenia gravis, an autoimmune neuromuscular disease that weakens the skeletal muscles.

From New York Times ● Jan. 27, 2023

Blackmore victim Paul Stevens, who was forced to retire from work due to an auto-immune disease called myasthenia gravis, invested his ill-health retirement benefit into the fund.

From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2022

Esophageal paralysis is not uncommon in myasthenia gravis.

From Bronchoscopy and Esophagoscopy A Manual of Peroral Endoscopy and Laryngeal Surgery by Chevalier Jackson

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023