syndrome

/ˌsɪnˈdroʊm/

/ˈsɪndrəʊm/

Other forms: syndromes

When you and your friends hang out together, you call it a party. When symptoms of an illness hang out together, they call it a syndrome. If you receive an invitation, politely decline.

Syndrome comes from a Greek word that combines the root “to run” (dramein) with the prefix “together” (sun-). When many or all of the symptoms for a disease “run together,” that's a syndrome. You can also use syndrome in a figurative way to describe a type or pattern of behavior. If you have the “I'll do it tomorrow” syndrome, you put off doing a lot of things. At least you got around to reading about syndrome today.

Definitions of syndrome

1. noun

   a pattern of symptoms indicative of some disease
   types:

   autism

   a condition involving difficulties in social and communication skills

   ADD, ADHD, MBD, attention deficit disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, hyperkinetic syndrome, minimal brain damage, minimal brain dysfunction

   a condition (mostly in boys) characterized by behavioral and learning disorders

   Horner's syndrome

   a pattern of symptoms occurring as a result of damage to nerves in the cervical region of the spine (drooping eyelids and constricted pupils and absence of facial sweating)

   cervical disc syndrome, cervical root syndrome

   an abnormal condition resulting from compression of spinal nerve roots in the neck region; involves neck pains and muscular weakness and paresthesia

   Chinese restaurant syndrome

   headache and tingling or burning feelings and sweating caused by eating food that contains monosodium glutamate

   Conn's syndrome

   disturbances in saltwater balance and symptoms of weakness and muscular cramps and twitching and convulsions and sometimes paralysis; usually caused by a benign tumor of the cortex of the adrenal gland that leads to excess secretion of aldosterone

   FAS, fetal alcohol syndrome

   a congenital medical condition in which body deformation occurs or facial development or mental ability is impaired because the mother drinks alcohol during pregnancy

   Gulf War syndrome, Persian Gulf illness

   a medical condition of uncertain origin that affected many veterans of the 1991 Gulf War; characterized by fatigue and headache and dizziness and nausea and rashes and joint pain and respiratory disorders

   Klinefelter syndrome, Klinefelter's syndrome, XXY-syndrome

   syndrome in males that is characterized by small testes and long legs and enlarged breasts and reduced sperm production and mental retardation; a genetic defect in which an extra X chromosome (XXY) is present in the male

   malabsorption syndrome

   a pattern of symptoms including loss of appetite and bloating and weight loss and muscle pain and steatorrhea; associated with celiac disease and sprue and cystic fibrosis

   Munchausen syndrome, Munchausen's syndrome

   syndrome consisting of feigning acute and dramatic illness for which no clinical evidence is ever found

   nephrosis, nephrotic syndrome

   a syndrome characterized by edema and large amounts of protein in the urine and usually increased blood cholesterol; usually associated with glomerulonephritis or with a complication of various systemic diseases

   Noonan's syndrome

   syndrome seen only in males; marked by short stature and lowset ears and subnormal fertility

   phantom limb syndrome

   syndrome consisting of discomfort or pain in a limb that has been amputated

   PMS, premenstrual syndrome

   a syndrome that occurs in many women from 2 to 14 days before the onset of menstruation

   radiation, radiation sickness, radiation syndrome

   syndrome resulting from exposure to ionizing radiation (e.g., exposure to radioactive chemicals or to nuclear explosions); low doses cause diarrhea and nausea and vomiting and sometimes loss of hair; greater exposure can cause sterility and cataracts and some forms of cancer and other diseases; severe exposure can cause death within hours

   Ramsay Hunt syndrome

   syndrome resulting from infection by the herpes varicella zoster virus; characterized by vertigo and pain in the ears and facial nerve paralysis and sometimes hearing loss

   Reiter's disease, Reiter's syndrome

   an inflammatory syndrome (etiology unknown) predominantly in males; characterized by arthritis and conjunctivitis and urethritis

   Ekbom syndrome, restless legs, restless legs syndrome

   feeling of uneasiness and restlessness in the legs after going to bed (sometimes causing insomnia); may be relieved temporarily by walking or moving the legs

   Reye's syndrome

   acquired encephalopathy following acute viral infections (especially influenza or chicken pox) in young children; characterized by fever, vomiting, disorientation, coma, and fatty infiltration of the liver

   scalenus syndrome

   discomfort and vascular symptoms and loss of sensation in a shoulder and arm; caused by a scalene muscle compressing the subclavian artery and part of the brachial plexus

   apyretic tetanus, intermittent cramp, intermittent tetanus, tetanilla, tetany

   clinical neurological syndrome characterized by muscular twitching and cramps and (when severe) seizures; associated with calcium deficiency (hypoparathyroidism) or vitamin D deficiency or alkalosis

   thoracic outlet syndrome

   tingling sensations in the fingers; caused by compression on a nerve supplying the arm

   Tietze's syndrome

   syndrome characterized by swelling of rib cartilage (causing pain)

   Gilles de la Tourette syndrome, Tourette's syndrome

   neurological disorder characterized by facial grimaces and tics and movements of the upper body and grunts and shouts and coprolalia

   Fallot's syndrome, Fallot's tetralogy, tetralogy of Fallot

   a congenital heart defect producing cyanosis; characterized by four symptoms: pulmonary stenosis and ventricular septal defect and malposition of the aorta over both ventricles and hypertrophy of the right ventricle

   TSS, toxic shock, toxic shock syndrome

   syndrome resulting from a serious acute (sometimes fatal) infection associated with the presence of staphylococcus; characterized by fever and diarrhea and nausea and diffuse erythema and shock; occurs especially in menstruating women using highly absorbent tampons

   Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome

   syndrome associated with bacterial meningitis; marked by sudden high fever and skin discoloration and petechiae with hemorrhage into the adrenal glands and cardiovascular collapse

   Williams syndrome

   a rare congenital disorder associated with deletion of genetic material in chromosome 7; characterized by mental deficiency and some growth deficiency and elfin faces but an overly social personality and a remarkable gift for vocabulary

   Zollinger-Ellison syndrome

   syndrome consisting of intractable peptic ulceration with gastric hypersecretion and hyperacidity

   infantile autism

   a rare but serious syndrome of childhood characterized by withdrawal and lack of social responsiveness or interest in others and serious linguistic deficits

   type of:

   symptom

   (medicine) any sensation or change in bodily function that is experienced by a patient and is associated with a particular disease
2. noun

   a complex of concurrent things
   “every word has a syndrome of meanings”

   type of:

   complex, composite

   a conceptual whole made up of complicated and related parts