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Glite Dictionary
amentia

amentia

9.9
A very severe problem with thinking and learning that is an old medical word no longer used
  • noun
  • /əˈmɛnʃə/
  • Slur
: [término ofensivo para discapacidad intelectual grave]
  • Many individuals diagnosed with amentia faced significant challenges in everyday life.

Examples

  • The historical understanding of amentia reflected negative perceptions towards mental disabilities.

  • In "The Frequency of Amentia as Related to Sex," she reported that it only appeared that there were more feebleminded males than females because girl children remained in the care of their families, whereas boys were institutionalized (Hollingworth, 1913).

    Academic text (1990)

  • Aamentia is a term formerly used to describe people with severe intellectual disabilities.

Synonyms

idiocy
vsamentia
  • Offensive
32 8.0

Very stupid or foolish behaviour often seen as offensive

is a clinical outdated label for severe intellectual disability
mental defectiveness
vsamentia
  • Archaic
9.6

A condition of low ability to learn and think that starts in childhood

is an outdated term for the same severe intellectual condition

Surface Forms

amentia singular
amentiae plural

Etymology

Amentia comes from Latin parts a- 'without' and mens 'mind', the same root you see in mental and dementia. So it originally meant 'without mind', which is why it was used for very serious intellectual disability, though it is now an old medical word.