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View synonyms for pathological

pathological

[ path-uh-loj-i-kuhl ]

adjective

  1. of or relating to pathology, or the science or study of diseases and their causes:

    Research into the pathological origins of alcoholism is ongoing.

  2. caused by, indicative of, or involving disease:

    Her white blood cell count had fallen to a pathological level.

  3. caused by or evidencing a mentally disturbed condition:

    He is a pathological hoarder.

    They show a pathological lack of concern for the suffering of others.

  4. dealing with diseases:

    The neurologist kept a pathological casebook from her practice as a source of examples for lectures.

  5. Mathematics. designating a phenomenon or object, such as a function, that is logically and correctly defined but has counterintuitive or paradoxical properties.
  6. Computers. relating to or producing a failed outcome or one that is contrary to what was intended or expected:

    This is just an example of what happens when the algorithm encounters pathological data.

    A pathological input shouldn't break the algorithm.



pathological

/ ˌpæθəˈlɒdʒɪkəl /

adjective

  1. of or relating to pathology
  2. relating to, involving, or caused by disease
  3. informal.
    compulsively motivated

    a pathological liar

“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


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Derived Forms

  • ˌpathoˈlogically, adverb
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Other Words From

  • path·o·log·i·cal·ly adverb
  • non·path·o·log·ic adjective
  • non·path·o·log·i·cal adjective
  • non·path·o·log·i·cal·ly adverb
  • post·path·o·log·ic adjective
  • post·path·o·log·i·cal adjective
  • sem·i·path·o·log·ic adjective
  • sem·i·path·o·log·i·cal adjective
  • sem·i·path·o·log·i·cal·ly adverb
  • un·path·o·log·i·cal adjective
  • un·path·o·log·i·cal·ly adverb
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Word History and Origins

Origin of pathological1

First recorded in 1680–90; from Greek pathologik(ós) ( pathology, -ic ) + -al 1
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Example Sentences

The same blend of pathological fearmongering could again energize the base in a way that could enable right-wing economic interests to stage a check on economic progress.

In 2013, McKee and colleagues proposed a scheme for characterizing the severity of CTE, classifying it into four pathological stages.

I shrank from their touch, recoiling from their hands like hot iron, believing their interest to be impossible or pathological.

From Vox

The overinterpretation is to interpret it as being pathological.

The Republicans who rally around a pathological demagogue are not a “fringe” in the party.

Actually some of the Contras whom I knew were the moral equivalent of pathological killers.

“Such a clandestine and pathological way of drinking increases the chances of becoming an alcoholic exponentially,” says Alireza.

Another vital source of evidence is pathological: the condition of the bodies of victims, which will show how they died.

The situation is pathological, not the people who keep remembering.

A relationship that infantilizes a woman is one that clearly draws a more pathological group of people.

Undoubtedly his existence is a product of the system, a pathological product, a kind of elephantiasis of individualism.

It has been maintained that this is a pathological specimen, and does not represent normal man.

Pathological micro-organisms have very complicated products which are in large part poisonous.

Unexpected death frequently occurs in mania because of the failure to recognise the existence of serious pathological conditions.

Not that it is any more frequent in England, however, but was there first recognised as a distinct pathological entity.

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pathol.pathological liar