Aphasia
//əˈfeɪzɪə// noun
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A partial or total loss of language skills due to brain damage. Usually, damage to the left perisylvian region, including Broca's area and Wernicke's area, causes aphasia. countable, uncountable
"The very disease aphasia is to most of us a new one; and we venture to say that even yet no one can give a satisfactory definition of Trousseau's new term."
- 2 inability to use or understand language (spoken or written) because of a brain lesion wordnet
Example
More examples"After Tom's brain injury, he had aphasia for almost a year."
Etymology
From French aphasie, from Ancient Greek ἀφασία (aphasía), from ἄφατος (áphatos, “speechless”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + φάσις (phásis, “speech”). Equivalent to a- + -phasia.
Related phrases
More for "aphasia"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.