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  

/ 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

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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

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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

"Overall, the study suggests that ultrasound-guided saline hydrodissection is a safe, minimally invasive treatment that can provide sustained clinical and morphological improvement in patients with refractory carpal tunnel syndrome," Dr. Tandon said.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 22, 2026

As the syndrome and its symptoms are still not commonly known, it is often difficult to know where to find help.

From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026

Embassy in Havana began reporting strange sounds and feelings of nausea and brain fog, a cluster of symptoms that became known as Havana syndrome.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

He went on to describe his relationship with a niece who has Down syndrome and looks like him, and to talk about a coffee shop his family owns that employs people with her disability.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026

In addition, blood tests revealed that the subject was suffering from 5-alpha-reductase deficiency syndrome.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides

Even so, scientists still do not fully understand why island syndromes happen or how these traits help species adapt to island ecosystems.

From Science Daily ● May 28, 2026

He was also concerned about how it would be received, especially for people with autism and other syndromes mentioned in the programme.

From BBC ● Nov. 14, 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

Under Cushing, John studied pituitary syndromes in dogs and mice and contemplated X-ray irradiations of humans.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

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Related Words

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