Meaning & use
syndrome
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Meanings
nouncountablemedical
A set of signs and symptoms that tend to occur together and point to a particular illness or condition.
Grammar: Often part of a named condition: Down syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome.
Patterns
- a syndrome of something
- the syndrome affects someone
Doctors diagnosed her with a rare genetic syndrome.
The syndrome causes tiredness, joint pain and memory problems.
Researchers are looking for the cause of the syndrome.
nouncountableinformalfigurative
A pattern of behavior or events that regularly appears together in a situation, often a negative one.
Grammar: Used loosely and often with a descriptive word before it: the impostor syndrome.
Patterns
- the something syndrome
Many new managers suffer from impostor syndrome.
The company showed the classic big-project syndrome of missed deadlines and rising costs.
He fell victim to the not-my-job syndrome.
Word forms
| plural | syndromes |
|---|
Common combinations
- rare syndrome
- It is a rare syndrome that affects only a few hundred children.
- diagnosed with a syndrome
- He was diagnosed with a syndrome affecting the nerves.
- chronic fatigue syndrome
- Chronic fatigue syndrome can last for years.
- impostor syndrome
- Impostor syndrome made her doubt her own success.
- symptoms of the syndrome
- The symptoms of the syndrome vary from person to person.
Synonyms and how they differ
- disorder
- Disorder is a broader term for a disturbance in health or function and does not require a group of signs the way syndrome does.
- condition
- Condition is the most general word for a health state and sounds less technical than syndrome.
- pattern
- Pattern describes any recurring set of features, not only medical ones.
Word family
- syndromic adjective
- relating to or forming part of a syndrome
Commonly confused: syndrome or symptom? syndrome or disease?
syndrome vs symptom
A symptom is one sign of an illness, while a syndrome is the recognized group of symptoms that appear together.
syndrome vs disease
A disease has a known cause and process, but a syndrome may be named just because its symptoms cluster, even if the cause is not known.
Practice
A single sign such as a fever is a symptom. A recognized group of signs that occur together is a ___.
Choose one answer.
A syndrome is a cluster of symptoms that occur together. The other words only look similar in spelling.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “syndrome”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.