Meaning & use
epilepsy
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountablemedical
A long-term condition of the brain in which a person has repeated seizures because of sudden bursts of abnormal electrical activity.
Grammar: No plural and no article for the condition: he has epilepsy.
Patterns
- have epilepsy
- suffer from epilepsy
- live with epilepsy
Her younger brother was diagnosed with epilepsy at the age of seven.
Many people with epilepsy control their seizures with daily medication.
The charity raises money for research into epilepsy.
Common combinations
- have epilepsy
- She has epilepsy but lives an active life.
- diagnosed with epilepsy
- He was diagnosed with epilepsy after his first seizure.
- treat epilepsy
- Doctors can treat epilepsy with different drugs.
- epilepsy medication
- His epilepsy medication must be taken every morning.
- epilepsy charity
- The epilepsy charity runs a free helpline.
Synonyms and how they differ
- seizure disorder
- Seizure disorder is a plainer medical phrase that covers epilepsy and similar conditions, so it is slightly broader.
- falling sickness
- Falling sickness is an old name for epilepsy and now sounds outdated and unscientific.
Word family
- epileptic adjective
- relating to epilepsy; also used as a noun, though many prefer person with epilepsy
- epileptic seizure noun
- a sudden episode caused by the condition
- antiepileptic adjective
- used to prevent seizures
- epileptiform adjective
- resembling epilepsy
Commonly confused: epilepsy or narcolepsy?
epilepsy vs narcolepsy
Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder causing sudden sleep attacks; it is not epilepsy.
Practice
Which is the correct way to describe the condition in a sentence?
Choose one answer.
Epilepsy is normally an uncountable noun for the condition, so it takes no article. An epilepsy and the plural forms are not used in everyday speech.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “epilepsy”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.