pathology

noun

pa·​thol·​o·​gy pə-ˈthä-lə-jē 

plural pathologies

1

: the study of the essential nature of diseases and especially of the structural and functional changes produced by them

studied plant pathology

2

: something abnormal:

a

: the structural and functional deviations from the normal that constitute disease or characterize a particular disease

the pathology of pneumonia

b

: deviation from propriety or from an assumed normal state of something nonliving or nonmaterial

the pathology of wine

c

: deviation giving rise to social ills

connections between these pathologies … and crime

—Wendy Kaminer

social pathology

Examples of pathology in a Sentence

the pathology of lung diseases

Recent Examples on the Web

Boot is more alert to the pathologies of ideology than to those of the establishment. —Daniel Immerwahr, The New Yorker, 9 Sep. 2024

But when does the impulse to embrace ambiguity become its own pathology? —Sean Illing, Vox, 15 Oct. 2024

As a proof of concept, in a Nature Neuroscience study last fall, Huang’s lab showed that newborn mice engineered to carry the Christchurch mutation in one or both of their copies of APOE4 were partially or fully protected from developing Alzheimer’s-like pathology as adults. —Byjocelyn Kaiser, science.org, 12 Sep. 2024

Now, The Devil, Probably resurfaces during the vogue for outward pathologies, hidden grotesquerie — and the pseudo-intellectual agnosticism of Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist. —Armond White, National Review, 25 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Middle French & New Latin; Middle French pathologie, borrowed from New Latin pathologia "study of the emotions, study of diseases," from patho- patho- + -logia -logy

Note: Probably formed on the basis of New Latin pathologicus (see pathological). In the sense "study of the emotions," perhaps directly from Greek pathología "study of the passions," attested in Greek-Latin glossaries.

First Known Use

1611, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

pathology

noun

pa·​thol·​o·​gy pə-ˈthäl-ə-jē 

plural pathologies

1

: the study of diseases and especially of the changes in the body produced by them

2

: something abnormal

especially : the disorders in structure and function that occur in a particular disease

Medical Definition

pathology

noun

pa·​thol·​o·​gy -jē 

plural pathologies

1

: the study of the essential nature of diseases and especially of the structural and functional changes produced by them

2

: the anatomic and physiological deviations from the normal that constitute disease or characterize a particular disease

3

: a treatise on or compilation of abnormalities

a new pathology of the eye