syndrome

American  

[sin-drohm, -druhm] / ˈsɪn droʊm, -drəm /

noun

• syndromes
  plural

1. Pathology, Psychiatry. a group of symptoms that together are characteristic of a specific disorder, disease, or the like.

2. a group of related or coincident things, events, actions, etc.

3. the pattern of symptoms that characterize or indicate a particular social condition.

4. a predictable, characteristic pattern of behavior, action, etc., that tends to occur under certain circumstances.

   the retirement syndrome of endless golf and bridge games; the feast-or-famine syndrome of big business.

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syndrome British  

/ sɪnˈdrɒmɪk, ˈsɪndrəʊm /

noun

1. med any combination of signs and symptoms that are indicative of a particular disease or disorder

2. a symptom, characteristic, or set of symptoms or characteristics indicating the existence of a condition, problem, etc

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syndrome Scientific  

/ sĭn′drōm′ /

1. An abnormal condition or disease that is identified by an established group of signs and symptoms.

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syndrome Cultural  

1. A set of signs and symptoms that appear together and characterize a disease or medical condition. AIDS is an example of a syndrome.

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Discover More

A collection of attitudes or behaviors that go together is often called a syndrome.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• syndromic
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• syndromes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of syndrome

1535–45; < New Latin < Greek syndromḗ concurrence, combination, equivalent to syn- syn- + drom-, base meaning “run” ( see -drome) + -ē feminine noun suffix

Explanation

When you and your friends hang out together, you call it a party. When symptoms of an illness hang out together, they call it a syndrome. If you receive an invitation, politely decline. Syndrome comes from a Greek word that combines the root “to run” (dramein) with the prefix “together” (sun-). When many or all of the symptoms for a disease “run together,” that's a syndrome. You can also use syndrome in a figurative way to describe a type or pattern of behavior. If you have the “I'll do it tomorrow” syndrome, you put off doing a lot of things. At least you got around to reading about syndrome today.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

syndrome syndromes

He posted on social media about various health ailments, including irritable bowel syndrome and spondylolisthesis, a condition caused by a vertebra slipping out of place.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

People with metabolic syndrome, a cluster of risk factors that includes high blood pressure, raised blood sugar and excess body fat, may see particular benefits.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 13, 2026

“I have impostor syndrome getting out of bed, just doing my own life,” she says.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026

She assumed it would pass, but it was a vocal tic and her first known manifestation of her Tourette's syndrome, a condition that causes people to make sudden, repetitive sounds or movements.

From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026

At the time, I had no knowledge of the grief process, clinical depression, or survivor’s guilt syndrome.

From "While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age during the Civil Rights Movement" by Carolyn Maull McKinstry

As the authors note, "The combination of advanced imaging techniques and machine learning confers methodological robustness and contributes significantly to the ongoing scientific discourse on post-viral syndromes."

From Science Daily ● Nov. 13, 2025

From a diagnostic standpoint, it overlaps with obsessive-compulsive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and trauma-related syndromes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 12, 2025

And for those with hypermobility syndromes, meaning overly flexible joints, “it’s important to be mindful that increased stretching could lead to dislocations of the joints.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2025

But to move from hypothesis to proven treatment, he says, the scientific community urgently needs double-blind, randomized, controlled trials—the gold standard for treatment research—on nicotine therapy for post-acute infection syndromes.

From Slate ● Jun. 11, 2025

I am not someone to pity, with an unstable mind and weird pain syndromes.

From "We Were Liars" by E. Lockhart

Related Words

• ailment
• disorder
• malady
• problem
• sickness