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Glite Dictionary
AIDS

AIDS

958 2.5
A serious disease caused by HIV that weakens the body's natural defence
  • noun
  • /eɪdz/
  • Specialized
translation icon : SIDA
  • But despite this they have no symptoms of AIDS and a normal lifespan.
  • HIV and AIDS
  • living with AIDS
  • people with AIDS

It was the amfar annual AIDS Foundation research benefit.

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Examples

  • Education about prevention and treatment is crucial to combat the spread of AIDS.

  • I had a cousin who passed away from AIDS when I was nine years old.

  • The official death, as confirmed by medical tests, was AIDS.

    The Cathedral (2022)

  • And she was at the time working in AIDS research at UCLA.

  • Fear of pregnancy, fear of AIDS, fear of establishing families in an economic depression?

    Fiction book (1993)

  • When they fired Andrew Beckett because he had AIDS, they broke the law.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • More than a quarter million people will have been stricken by AIDS in America by 1991.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • The administration fought disease, becoming the largest donor to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

    Academic text (2011)

  • Meet a doctor who's infected with AIDS and hasn't told his patients.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • The partners at Wyant Wheeler did not know Andrew Beckett had AIDS when they fired him...

    Fiction book (1993)

Synonyms

immunodeficiency
vsAIDS
  • Specialized
4 6.9

A condition in which the body's defence system is weak and cannot fight infections well

is a specific virus-caused disease rather than a broad immune disorder
acquired immune deficiency syndrome
vsAIDS
  • Specialized
1 3.9

A serious disease that weakens the immune system and spreads mainly through sex, blood, or dirty needles

is defined by a specific virus causing immune weakness rather than listing transmission

Antonyms

health
∞ 1.0

The condition of a person's body and mind, especially being free from illness or injury

wellness
52 3.2

Good physical and mental health that people try to keep

Surface Forms

AIDS singular
AIDS plural

Morphology

AIDS = A + I + D + S

AIDS is an initialism (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome); the letters themselves do not convey the medical meaning, so knowing the components does not let learners infer the sense.

Etymology

The word AIDS is an acronym from acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, where acquired means 'got after birth', deficiency means 'not enough', and syndrome means 'a group of symptoms'. So the name says the immune system is 'not enough', which is why people with AIDS are more likely to get other infections.