rheumatic
Americanadjective
-
pertaining to or of the nature of rheumatism.
-
affected with or subject to rheumatism.
noun
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
- antirheumatic adjective
- nonrheumatic adjective
- postrheumatic adjective
- prerheumatic adjective
- pseudorheumatic adjective
- rheumatically adverb
- unrheumatic adjective
Etymology
Origin of rheumatic
1350–1400; Middle English reumatik < Latin rheumaticus < Greek rheumatikós, equivalent to rheumat- (stem of rheûma; rheum ) + -ikos -ic
Explanation
The adjective rheumatic describes anything having to do with rheumatism, a painful disease of the joints. If your grandfather moves slowly, you could describe him as rheumatic. You could describe a doctor as "a rheumatic expert," or a patient as moving in a rheumatic way, slow and arthritic. The Latin root word is rheumaticus, "troubled with rheum," and rheum itself is a Greek word that means "flow." The word was first ascribed to the disease of rheumatism because of the way it seemed to spread — or flow — within a patient's body.
Vocabulary lists containing rheumatic
"Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" by Nathaniel Hawthorne
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Turtle in Paradise
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The Secret Garden
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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.
When disease-causing bacteria enter the bloodstream, they may play a role in serious conditions such as diabetes, rheumatic disease, arthritis, cardiovascular disease, chronic inflammatory bowel disease, and even Alzheimer's disease.
From Science Daily • Apr. 13, 2026
Appeal letters from the company related to rheumatic conditions, where it’s had the most experience so far, have about an 82% success rate, Veigulis said.
From MarketWatch • Oct. 21, 2025
Currently there is no vaccine available to protect against group A strep, which can also cause rheumatic fever and scarlet fever.
From BBC • Oct. 6, 2023
“Is this going to become the next rheumatic heart disease? We don’t know,” she said.
From Seattle Times • Aug. 9, 2023
When he was eighteen, he had almost died from rheumatic fever.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
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.
