Symptom
//ˈsɪm(p)təm// noun
noun ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A perceived change in some function, sensation or appearance of a person that indicates a disease or disorder, such as fever, headache or rash; strictly, a symptom is felt or experienced by the patient, while a sign can be detected by an observer.
"The doctor told that his coughing and sneezing was the symptom of standing for too long in the rain."
- 2 anything that accompanies X and is regarded as an indication of X's existence wordnet
- 3 A signal; anything that indicates, or is characteristic of, the presence of something else, especially of something undesirable. figuratively
"Lying, hiding one's true feelings, and having affairs are typical symptoms of a doomed marriage."
- 4 (medicine) any sensation or change in bodily function that is experienced by a patient and is associated with a particular disease wordnet
Example
More examples"Do you have this symptom often?"
Etymology
From Ancient Greek σύμπτωμα (súmptōma, “a happening, accident, symptom of disease”), from stem of συμπίπτω (sumpíptō, “Ι befall”), from συν- (sun-, “together”) + πίπτω (píptō, “I fall”).
Related phrases
More for "symptom"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.