diathesis
/daɪˈaθəsɪs/US/daɪˈæθəsɪs/
diathesis noun: a hereditary or constitutional predisposition to a disease or other disorder.
Noun
diathesis (countable and uncountable, plural diatheses)
- A hereditary or constitutional predisposition to a disease or other disorder.
- Medical materialism seems indeed a good appellation for the too simple-minded system of thought which we are considering. […] All such mental over-tensions, it says, are, when you come to the bottom of the matter, mere affairs of diathesis (auto-intoxications most probably), due to the perverted...1902, William James, “Lecture I”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature […] , New York, N.Y.; London: Longmans, Green, and Co. […], →OCLC
- There are, however, distinct differences between diatheses and idiosyncrasies; diatheses definitely tend to the development of disease, for example the scrofulous diathesis of our forebears favours the onset of tuberculosis; idiosyncrasies are abnormal reactions but do not necessarily dispose to...1927, Humphry Davy Rolleston, Idiosyncrasies, London: Kegan Paul, pages 16–17
- Voice (active or passive).
diathesis meaning in Tamil
diathesis in Tamil
- பழக்கத்தால் குறிப்பிட்ட நோய்க்கு ஆளாதல்
Forms of diathesis
| plural | diatheses |
|---|
Origin of diathesis
Borrowed from New Latin diathesis, from Ancient Greek διάθεσις (diáthesis, “state, condition”), from διατίθημι (diatíthēmi, “to arrange”).
Words formed from diathesis
Questions about diathesis
- What does diathesis mean?
- Diathesis means a hereditary or constitutional predisposition to a disease or other disorder.
- What is diathesis in Tamil?
- Diathesis in Tamil is பழக்கத்தால் குறிப்பிட்ட நோய்க்கு ஆளாதல். See Diathesis meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is diathesis?
- Diathesis is a noun.
- How do you pronounce diathesis?
- Diathesis is pronounced /daɪˈaθəsɪs/ (UK).
- What is the plural of diathesis?
- The plural of diathesis is diatheses.
Words near diathesis in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: diathesis (page history and authors); diathesis (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-diathesis.wav.
Cite this entry: “diathesis.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/diathesis. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.