rheumatism

American  

[roo-muh-tiz-uhm] / ˈru məˌtɪz əm /

noun

Pathology.

• rheumatisms
  plural

1. any disorder of the extremities or back, characterized by pain and stiffness.

2. rheumatic fever.

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rheumatism British  

/ ˈruːməˌtɪzəm /

noun

1. any painful disorder of joints, muscles, or connective tissue Compare arthritis fibrositis

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• rheumatisms
  plural

Etymology

Origin of rheumatism

1595–1605; < Latin rheumatismus catarrh, rheum < Greek rheumatismós, equivalent to rheumat- (stem of rheûma; see rheum) + -ismos -ism

Compare meaning

How does rheumatism compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• rheumatism vs. arthritis

Explanation

Rheumatism is a medical condition of painful inflammation in muscles, joints, or connective tissue. If you volunteer to help an elderly woman with rheumatism in her hands, you might help her write, or carry her bags. Rheumatism comes from the old Greek medical word rheum, which means flux or flow, and comes from outdated medical ideas about the flow of humors causing pain or stiffness in the joints. Now, rheumatism is defined as inflammation in the joints, muscles, or tissues. If someone has rheumatism, their movement is stiff and painful.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

rheumatism rheumatisms

He suffers from rheumatism and would like nothing more than to “heal” on a beach in Cuba—still the ideal of paradise for those who grew up in drab old communist Europe.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 13, 2026

Bone is maintained via delicate balance between formation and resorption, and its imbalance leads to bone related diseases like osteoporosis rheumatism and periodontitis.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 26, 2023

“The young should really come forward because we’re afflicted by rheumatism and we have many co-morbidities,” said Taguiwalo, now 72.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 21, 2022

A year before he died, the San Francisco Chronicle found him a blind old man whose wife was crippled by rheumatism and whose 3-year-old son had never walked.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 10, 2022

It was thought to hold promise for medicine, too: Edison marketed his inductorium, an induction coil, as a guaranteed cure for rheumatism, gout, nervous diseases, and sciatica.

From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover

They are found serviceable in rheumatisms, paralysis, pains in the breast, and all chronic and nervous complaints.

From Scenes and Andventures in the Semi-Alpine Region of the Ozark Mountains of Missouri and Arkansas by Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe

The bath, they told us, had wrought great cures in several disorders, such as rheumatisms, swelled and contracted joints, and scorbutic ulcers.

From A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 17 Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time by Kerr, Robert

It is a terrible potency, robbing us of half our lives, and threatening or desolating the moiety left us with rheumatisms and catarrhs.

From Suburban Sketches by Howells, William Dean

Perhaps we shall be able to differentiate the severer forms and recognize them from the beginning, as we have already done with regard to scarlatinal, gonorrheal, influenzal and other so-called rheumatisms.

From Psychotherapy by Walsh, James J. (James Joseph)

Rickets in infancy, convulsions in childhood, or premature rheumatisms, have brought the nations of history to untimely deaths.

From History of Woman Suffrage, Volume II by Stanton, Elizabeth Cady