Meaning & use
hemophiliac
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Meaning
nouncountablemedical
A person born with hemophilia, an inherited condition in which blood is slow to clot, so even small injuries can bleed for a long time.
Grammar: A countable noun: a hemophiliac, two hemophiliacs.
Patterns
- a hemophiliac who needs something
As a hemophiliac, he had to avoid contact sports.
The clinic runs a program to teach young hemophiliacs how to inject their own medication.
Many hemophiliacs now live active lives thanks to clotting-factor treatments.
Word forms
| plural | hemophiliacs |
|---|
Common combinations
- a severe hemophiliac
- A severe hemophiliac may bleed into the joints without any obvious injury.
- treat a hemophiliac
- Doctors must take special care when they treat a hemophiliac before surgery.
- a young hemophiliac
- The nurse showed a young hemophiliac how to protect his knees.
- hemophiliac patients
- Hemophiliac patients are often given regular infusions.
Synonyms and how they differ
- person with hemophilia
- This phrase is now often preferred in medical writing because it names the person first and the condition second, while hemophiliac can feel like a label.
- bleeder
- Bleeder is an old, blunt, informal word and can sound insensitive, whereas hemophiliac is the neutral clinical term.
Word family
- hemophilia noun
- the inherited blood-clotting disorder itself
- hemophilic adjective
- relating to or affected by hemophilia
Commonly confused: hemophiliac or hemophobic?
hemophiliac vs hemophobic
Hemophobic describes someone who has a fear of blood, and it has nothing to do with a clotting disorder.
Practice
A hemophiliac needs special medical care mainly because his or her blood ____.
Choose one answer.
Hemophilia means the blood does not clot properly, so bleeding is prolonged. Clotting too quickly is the opposite problem, and the other options describe different conditions.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “hemophiliac”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.