Rheumatism
//ˈɹu.məˌtɪz.əm// noun
noun ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Any disorder of the muscles, tendons, joints, bones, nerves, characterized by pain, discomfort and disability. countable, uncountable
"And then as to your ſcurvys, and gouts, rheumatiſms, conſumptions, coughs and catarrhs, tar-vvater and turpentine vvill make you as ſound as a roach."
- 2 any painful disorder of the joints or muscles or connective tissues wordnet
- 3 Atrophic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis countable, uncountable
- 4 a chronic autoimmune disease with inflammation of the joints and marked deformities; something (possibly a virus) triggers an attack on the synovium by the immune system, which releases cytokines that stimulate an inflammatory reaction that can lead to the destruction of all components of the joint wordnet
Example
More examples"The doctor says she suffers from rheumatism."
Etymology
First attested 1601, from Latin rheumatismus (“rheum”), from Ancient Greek ῥευματισμός (rheumatismós, “humour, discharge, rheum”) from ῥευματίζομαι (rheumatízomai, “I suffer from a rheum”) from ῥεῦμα (rheûma, “stream, flow”) from ῥέω (rhéō, “I flow”)
Related phrases
More for "rheumatism"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.