syndrome

American  

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

noun

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

• syndromic adjective

Etymology

Origin of syndrome

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

Example Sentences

Among the children who died from flu last season, the most common complications experienced before death were shock or sepsis, pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, seizures and damage to the brain.

From Los Angeles Times

A later investigation determined that he died of heart disease and Arakawa died of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a disease caused by rodents.

From The Wall Street Journal

Six months after losing his "kind, caring, clever and beautiful" partner to sudden adult death syndrome, he says remembering that "heart-to-heart in the car... makes me feel so much better".

From BBC

The Eriksons also had a fourth child, Neil, who had Down syndrome and was sent to an institution immediately after birth.

From The Wall Street Journal

New research suggests that disrupted brain circuits in Down syndrome may be linked to a shortage of a specific molecule that the nervous system relies on to develop and work properly.

From Science Daily

Related Words

• ailment
• disorder
• malady
• problem
• sickness