noun ·4 syllables ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Inflammation of the meninges, characterized by headache, neck stiffness and photophobia and also fever, chills, vomiting and myalgia. countable, uncountable
2. 2
   infectious disease characterized by inflammation of the meninges (the tissues that surround the brain or spinal cord) usually caused by a bacterial infection; symptoms include headache and stiff neck and fever and nausea wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

acute articular rheumatismadenoiditisadrenitisafrican lethargyaguealkali disease

Example

More examples

"Meningitis is a terrible disease."

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μῆνῐγξ (mênĭnx) + -itis, equivalent to meninge + -itis.

Related phrases

Mollaret's meningitisaseptic meningitisbacterial meningitiscerebrospinal meningitismeningitis Wtuberculous meningitis

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.