“symptoms” is a form of
symptom
/ˈsɪm(p)təm/ noun
Forms symptoms
- noun (medicine) 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.”
- noun (figuratively) A signal; anything that indicates, or is characteristic of, the presence of something else, especially of something undesirable. “Lying, hiding one's true feelings, and having affairs are typical symptoms of a doomed marriage.”
Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English sinthoma, from Medieval Latin sinthoma, altered by Late Latin symptoma, from Ancient Greek σύμπτωμα (súmptōma, “a happening, accident, symptom of disease”), from stem of συμπίπτω (sumpíptō, “Ι befall”), from συν- (sun-, “together”) + πίπτω (píptō, “to fall”). See also syn-, -oma, -ome.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Any affection which accompanies disease; a perceptible change in the body or its functions, which indicates disease, or the kind or phases of disease; as, the causes of disease often lie beyond our sight, but we learn their nature by the symptoms exhibited.
- noun A sign or token; that which indicates the existence of something else; as, corruption in elections is a symptom of the decay of public virtue.
Etymology [F. symptôme, Gr. pat to fly, to fall. See Syn-, and cf. Asymptote, Feather.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “symptom”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details