MEANING
1. Relating to the study, processes, or effects of disease.
2. Describing behavior that is severely uncontrolled or persistently dysfunctional, sometimes by comparison with illness.
Use it for
distinguishing disease-related changes from ordinary variation; describing findings in the study of disease; specifying that a process results from illnessSeparates disease-related processes from ordinary variation, while identifying the risks of using clinical language metaphorically. Academic functions: Analysis / Interpretation.
Words that belong together
- pathological changes
- a pathological process
- pathological examination
On the page
The review distinguishes age-related variation from pathological changes.
A pathological explanation requires evidence of disease rather than an assumption that difference is abnormal.
The critic questions the narrator’s portrayal of dissent as pathological distrust.
Calling the conduct pathological requires more justification than showing that it is unpopular.
Nearby words
Word forms
- Base
- pathological
Usage notes
Adjective, attributive or predicative. Medical uses are normally non-gradable; figurative more pathological occurs. Do not invent pathologicaler. Register: technical. Commonness: moderately common (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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