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A.Word.A.Day--idiopathy

Pronunciation Sound Clip RealAudio

This week's theme: words related to medicine.

idiopathy (id-ee-OP-uh-thee) noun

A disease of unknown origin or one having no apparent cause.

[From New Latin idiopathia (primary disease), from Greek idiopatheia, from idios (one's own, personal) + -pathy (feeling, suffering).]

See more usage examples of idiopathy in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)

"Beneath the complexity and idiopathy of every cancer lies a limited number of 'mission critical' events that have propelled the tumour cell and its progeny into uncontrolled expansion and invasion." Gerald I Evan and Karen H Vousden; Proliferation, Cell Cycle And Apoptosis* in Cancer; Nature (London, UK); May 17, 2001.

*Apoptosis is the word for a cell's death by suicide, also known as Programmed Cell Death (PCD).

X-Bonus

I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day; I'd rather one should walk with me than merely tell the way. -Edgar Guest, poet (1881-1959)

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