Meaning & use
Oligophrenic
Last updated
Relating to or affected by oligophrenia, an older clinical term for significantly below-average intellectual development.
See it in a sentence
Early twentieth-century medical texts used "oligophrenic" to classify patients by the severity of their intellectual disability.
Modern clinicians avoid the term "oligophrenic," preferring more precise and respectful diagnostic language.
A note on using this word
This term is now considered outdated and stigmatizing in clinical practice; it survives mainly in historical medical literature and some non-English diagnostic systems.
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