sclerotic

[ skli-rot-ik ]

adjective

1. Also Anatomy. of or relating to the sclera.
2. Pathology, Botany. pertaining to or affected with sclerosis.

sclerotic

/ sklɪəˈrɒtɪk /

adjective

1. of or relating to the sclera
2. of, relating to, or having sclerosis
3. botany characterized by the hardening and strengthening of cell walls

noun

1. another name for sclera

Other Words From

• subscle·rotic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of sclerotic¹

1535–45; < New Latin sclērōticus of hardening, equivalent to Greek sklērṓt ( ēs ) hardness (derivative of sklērós hard; sclero- ) + New Latin -icus -ic

Word History and Origins

Origin of sclerotic¹

C16: from Medieval Latin sclērōticus, from Greek; see scleroma

Example Sentences

God knows, having worked a whole career in government, I understood their critique of its baroque and sclerotic routines.

From Salon

"Repression of social problems by governments allow bureaucracies to rot and become sclerotic as the social pressure builds to the point where bureaucracies are exploded."

From Salon

"Repression of social problems by governments allow bureaucracies to rot and become sclerotic as the social pressure builds to the point where bureaucracies are exploded."

From Salon

It helped demolish billions in label revenue, forcing a sclerotic industry to re-assess its entire model.

From Los Angeles Times

By the final years of the Cold War, the Soviet Union was a sclerotic power—”a gas station with nuclear weapons,” as the late Sen. John McCain once called it—offering the world nothing but a bankrupt ideology.

From Slate