Meaning & use
ludopath
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountableraremedical
A person who suffers from a compulsive urge to gamble, to the point where it harms their finances and relationships.
Grammar: Plural is ludopaths: ludopaths often hide their losses.
Patterns
- a ludopath who gambles
The clinic offers group therapy for each ludopath who asks for help.
Spanish newspapers sometimes describe a compulsive player as a ludopath.
Family members often notice that a ludopath hides losses and borrows money.
Word forms
| plural | ludopaths |
|---|
Common combinations
- treat a ludopath
- The doctor learned how to treat a ludopath with patience.
- become a ludopath
- He feared he would become a ludopath after losing so much.
- help a ludopath
- Support groups can help a ludopath return to normal life.
- ludopath and family
- Counseling often involves both the ludopath and the family.
Synonyms and how they differ
- compulsive gambler
- Compulsive gambler is the everyday English phrase, while ludopath is rarer and more clinical.
- problem gambler
- Problem gambler is the term used by many charities and is less medical in tone than ludopath.
- gambling addict
- Gambling addict is common in news stories and blunt, whereas ludopath sounds technical.
Word family
- ludopathy noun
- the medical term for compulsive gambling
- ludopathic adjective
- relating to compulsive gambling
- pathology noun
- the study or condition of disease
Commonly confused: ludopath or psychopath?
ludopath vs psychopath
A psychopath is a person with a personality disorder involving lack of empathy, which is unrelated to gambling.
Practice
Which sentence uses ludopath correctly?
Choose one answer.
A ludopath is a person compulsively addicted to gambling. The other options give it unrelated meanings.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “ludopath”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.