syndrome

UK/ˈsɪndɹəʊm/US/ˈsɪndɹoʊm/

nounC1Common in everyday speech and writing · #3,256 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: syndromes

A syndrome is a set of symptoms that occur together. A rare syndrome, the syndrome was described, symptoms of the syndrome.

It is a step short of a disease: naming a syndrome says these things go together without saying why, and when the cause is found it often gets a new name. The word is used loosely of social patterns too. The Greek means running together.

Definitions of syndrome

1nounsyndromeA set of symptoms that occur together.C1
“Down syndrome is caused by an extra copy of a chromosome.”

syndrome is a medical pattern.

Remember it

The Greek is syn, with, and dromos, a run. A syndrome is the signs that run together, arriving as one group and not one at a time.

hooks ontorun

Where it comes from

Greek syndrome means a running together, from syn, with, plus dromos, a course.

Ancient Greek
συνδρομή — concurrence of symptoms, concourse
New Latin
syndrome
English, today
syndrome

Built from

σύνδρομος · Ancient Greek — running together
συν- · Ancient Greek — with
δρόμος · Ancient Greek — running, course

New Latin syndrome, from Ancient Greek συνδρομή (“concurrence of symptoms, concourse”), from σύνδρομος (“running together”), from συν- (“with”) + δρόμος (“running, course”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

syndrome in the wild

Since the introduction of screening, Down syndrome pregnancies are often aborted.
Down syndrome
Some individuals with Down syndrome graduate from high school, and a few attend post-secondary education.
Down syndrome
In 2015, Asperger syndrome was estimated to affect 37.2 million people globally, or about 0.5% of the population.
Asperger syndrome
Medical care is often required to manage other health problems with which Turner syndrome is associated.
Turner syndrome
Turner syndrome occurs in between one in 2,000 and one in 5,000 females at birth.
Turner syndrome

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

impostor syndrome

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