AIDS

[ eydz ]

nounPathology.
  1. acquired immune deficiency syndome: a disease of the immune system characterized by increased susceptibility to opportunistic infections, as pneumocystis carinii pneumonia and candidiasis, to certain cancers, as Kaposi's sarcoma, and to neurological disorders: caused by a retrovirus and transmitted chiefly through blood or blood products that enter the body's bloodstream, especially by sexual contact or contaminated hypodermic needles.

Origin of AIDS

1
First recorded in 1982; a(cquired) i(mmune) d(eficiency) s(yndrome)

Words that may be confused with AIDS

Words Nearby AIDS

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use AIDS in a sentence

  • He could not wriggle a toe, which made his mental processes difficult, for his toes were first AIDS to his brain.

    Scattergood Baines | Clarence Budington Kelland
  • It AIDS conversation by occasionally interrupting it for a short period, to be renewed with a new impetus.

  • The oil not only prevents evaporation but AIDS greatly to keep the uncovered parts from corrosion.

  • While waiting the return of his AIDS, he went to the top of the college to reconnoitre the surrounding country.

    The Boys of '61 | Charles Carleton Coffin.
  • The knight's fee was subject to AIDS, which were paid to the Crown upon the marriage of the king's son or daughter.

    Landholding In England | Joseph Fisher

British Dictionary definitions for AIDS

AIDS

Aids

/ (eɪdz) /


n acronym for
  1. acquired immune (or immuno-)deficiency syndrome: a condition, caused by a virus, in which certain white blood cells (lymphocytes) are destroyed, resulting in loss of the body's ability to protect itself against disease. AIDS is transmitted by sexual intercourse, through infected blood and blood products, and through the placenta

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for AIDS

AIDS

[ ādz ]


  1. Short for acquired immune deficiency syndrome. An infectious disease of the immune system caused by an human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). AIDS is characterized by a decrease in the number of helper T cells, which causes a severe immunodeficiency that leaves the body susceptible to a variety of potentially fatal infections. The virus is transmitted in infected bodily fluids such as semen and blood, as through sexual intercourse, the use of contaminated hypodermic syringes, and placental transfer between mother and fetus. Although a cure or vaccine is not yet available, a number of antiviral drugs can decrease the viral load and subsequent infections in patients with AIDS.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Cultural definitions for AIDS

AIDS

[ (aydz) ]


Acronym for acquired immune deficiency syndrome, a fatal disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV. Believed to have originated in Africa, AIDS has become an epidemic, infecting tens of millions of people worldwide. The virus, which is transmitted from one individual to another through the exchange of body fluids (such as blood or semen), attacks white blood cells, thereby causing the body to lose its capacity to ward off infection. As a result, many AIDS patients die of opportunistic infections that strike their debilitated bodies. AIDS first appeared in the United States in 1981, primarily among homosexuals and intravenous drug users who shared needles, but throughout the world, it is also transmitted by heterosexual contact. Today, scientists are hopeful that AIDS can be managed by new drugs, such as protease inhibitors, and need not be fatal. (See AZT.)

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.