Meaning & use
Raynaud's disease
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountablemedical
A condition in which fingers and toes turn white, then blue, and feel numb or painful in cold or stress.
Grammar: Used as a mass noun with no article: 'She has Raynaud's disease.' It is not usually counted or pluralized.
Patterns
- have Raynaud's disease
- Raynaud's disease affects someone
- treat Raynaud's disease
Her fingers go white in winter because she has Raynaud's disease.
Raynaud's disease is most common in young women.
Doctors may prescribe medicine to improve the circulation in people with Raynaud's disease.
noununcountablemedicalspecialist
The form of these symptoms that occurs alone, without any other underlying illness.
Grammar: This narrower sense is used mainly by specialists to contrast it with Raynaud's phenomenon.
Patterns
- primary Raynaud's disease
- diagnose Raynaud's disease
When no other disease is found, doctors call it Raynaud's disease.
Primary Raynaud's disease is usually mild and needs no drug treatment.
Common combinations
- have Raynaud's disease
- About one in twenty people may have Raynaud's disease to some degree.
- suffer from Raynaud's disease
- He suffers from Raynaud's disease and wears gloves even indoors.
- mild Raynaud's disease
- Mild Raynaud's disease can often be managed by keeping warm.
- Raynaud's disease attack
- A Raynaud's disease attack can be triggered by holding a cold drink.
- diagnosed with Raynaud's disease
- She was diagnosed with Raynaud's disease in her twenties.
Synonyms and how they differ
- Raynaud's phenomenon
- The broader term for the same color changes; it is used whether or not another illness is present.
- Raynaud's syndrome
- Often used for the pattern when it is linked to another condition such as lupus.
Word family
- Raynaud's phenomenon noun
- The wider medical name for the same circulation problem.
- Raynaud's syndrome noun
- The same symptoms seen together with another disorder.
Commonly confused: Raynaud's disease or Raynaud's phenomenon?
Raynaud's disease vs Raynaud's phenomenon
Doctors often use 'disease' for the form with no other cause and 'phenomenon' for the broader pattern, but in everyday speech the two names are used interchangeably.
Practice
Complete the sentence: 'She ___ Raynaud's disease, so her hands hurt in the cold.'
Choose one answer.
'Has Raynaud's disease' is the standard way to say someone lives with this condition. 'Suffers' would need 'from', and 'is' would need an article, which this uncountable name does not take.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “Raynaud's disease”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.