Scleromalacia

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Degenerative thinning of the sclera. uncountable, usually

    "Myopia has many pages devoted to it. The author regards as the primary cause of this disease an abnormal extensibility and stretching of the sclera, that there is a sort of scleromalacia, analagous to osteomalacia, which develops in some persons during the period of their growth, recovers spontaneously in many cases, leaves behind an elongation of the axis of the eye, but lasts for decades in the malignant cases, and occurs sometimes in one eye alone."

  2. 2
    A very rare ophthalmic manifestation seen in rheumatoid arthritis. uncountable, usually

Example

More examples

"Myopia has many pages devoted to it. The author regards as the primary cause of this disease an abnormal extensibility and stretching of the sclera, that there is a sort of scleromalacia, analagous to osteomalacia, which develops in some persons during the period of their growth, recovers spontaneously in many cases, leaves behind an elongation of the axis of the eye, but lasts for decades in the malignant cases, and occurs sometimes in one eye alone."

Etymology

From sclero- + malacia.

Related phrases

More for "scleromalacia"

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