symptom

Syllables: sym·ptom/ˈsɪm(p)təm/

symptom noun: 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.

Noun

symptom (plural symptoms)

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.
- Swollen breasts, morning sickness, and a missed period are classic symptoms of pregnancy.
(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.
- "Nay, nay," exclaimed Lord Norbourne, "I cannot go quite so far as that. I have, thanks to your hospitality, laid in a stock of health enough for the ensuing winter: but as to the general benevolence of which you talk, I confess I find no symptoms: if I did, they would alarm me more than those of...1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 114–115

symptom meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

symptom in Hindi

something that indicates a disease or disorder: लक्षण lakṣaṇ, अलामत alāmat
figuratively: indicator of something: लक्षण lakṣaṇ

symptom in Tamil

அறிகுறி

symptom in Urdu

something that indicates a disease or disorder: عَلامَت 'alāmat

symptom in Bengali

something that indicates a disease or disorder: লক্ষণ lokkhon

More languagesFewer languages

symptom in Telugu: లక్షణము lakṣaṇamu, చిహ్నము cihnamu
symptom in Malayalam: രോഗലക്ഷണം rōgalakṣaṇaṁ
symptom in Kannada: ಕುರುಹು
symptom in Punjabi: ਲੱਖਣ lakkhaṇ, ਚਿੰਨ੍ਹ cinnh
symptom in Sanskrit: व्यञ्जन vyáñjana, लिङ्ग liṅga
symptom in Assamese: চিন sin
symptom in Pashto: علامه 'alāma, نشانه nešāna
symptom in Tagalog: tandang-sakit, pangitain
symptom in Arabic: عَرَض ʕaraḍ, عَلَامَة ʕalāma
symptom in Malay: gejala, simptom
symptom in Indonesian: gejala, simtom
symptom in Persian: عَلامَت 'alâmat, نِشانِه nešâne, سَمپتوم samptôm, اَثَر asar
symptom in Thai: อาการ aa-gaan
symptom in Vietnamese: triệu chứng, chứng trạng
symptom in Myanmar: လက္ခဏာ lakhka.na, အဆင် a.hcang

Examples of symptom in a sentence

Sometimes a change in olfactory experience is the only symptom in a patient who is otherwise healthy.1987 October, Avery N. Gilbert and Charles J. Wysocki, “Results of the Smell Survey”, in National Geographic, volume 172, number 4, page...
Some people see birth outside of marriage as a social problem—a sign of a breakdown in the traditional family and a symptom of moral decay.2009, Charles Zastrow, Introduction to Social Work and Social Welfare:

All 40 example sentences with symptom

Synonyms of symptom

Antonyms

Treatment of symptoms versus treatment of cause

Forms of symptom

plural	symptoms

Plural of symptom: symptoms

Origin of symptom

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.

Phrases with symptom

Questions about symptom

What does symptom mean?: Symptom means 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.
What is symptom in Hindi?: Symptom in Hindi is लक्षण (lakṣaṇ), अलामत (alāmat). See Symptom meaning in Hindi.
How do you use symptom in a sentence?: Sometimes a change in olfactory experience is the only symptom in a patient who is otherwise healthy.
What part of speech is symptom?: Symptom is a noun.
How do you pronounce symptom?: Symptom is pronounced /ˈsɪm(p)təm/.
What is the plural of symptom?: The plural of symptom is symptoms.

Words near symptom in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: symptom (page history and authors); symptom (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); చిహ్నము (Telugu) (page history and authors); symptom (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਚਿੰਨ੍ਹ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); लिङ्ग (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); চিন (Assamese) (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-symptom.wav.

Cite this entry: “symptom.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/symptom. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.