pathognomonic

[ puh-thog-nuh-mon-ik ]

adjective

1. Medicine/Medical. characteristic or diagnostic of a specific disease:

   a pathognomonic sign of pneumonia.

pathognomonic

/ ˌpæθəɡnəˈmɒnɪk /

adjective

1. pathol characteristic or indicative of a particular disease

Derived Forms

• ˌpathognoˈmonically, adverb

Other Words From

• pa·thogno·moni·cal·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of pathognomonic¹

First recorded in 1615–25, pathognomonic is from the Greek word pathognōmonikós skilled in judging disease. See patho-, gnomon, -ic

Word History and Origins

Origin of pathognomonic¹

C17: from Greek pathognōmonikos expert in judging illness, from patho- + gnōmōn judge

Example Sentences

Bradshaw concluded their respective symptoms, even though they could only be observed externally, “were pathognomonic for dissociative and attachment disorders and for Complex PTSD.”

From Salon

It is pathognomonic of personality pathology.

From Salon

I’ve written about this issue before because of the link between Adam Lanza and autism, and the unifying feature of people who commit crimes like this isn’t a failure of eye contact in childhood or being quirky or weird or distanced–none of which is remotely pathognomonic for autism.

From Forbes

There is no natural disease entity called schizophrenia: it has no typical, or pathognomonic, symptom, no predictable response to treatment, no reliable prognosis.

From Scientific American

On the second day the pulse begins to drop and continues to do so slowly until the normal is reached, while the temperature remains steady, and this peculiarity is the one pathognomonic symptom of the disease, as ascertained by experts who have studied many epidemics.

From Project Gutenberg