congenital disease
1
4.3
- noun
- /kənˈdʒɛnɪtəl dɪˈziːz/
- Specialized
:
enfermedad congénita
- This column's title is that of an H.G. Wells short story about a man who stumbles into a remote Andean valley cut off from the world for centuries; he finds that the inhabitants suffer from a congenital disease that destroys their eyes, so that after fifteen generations they lack even the concept of sight.
Examples
-
the boy has a very serious congenital disease
-
Khaled has several children who suffer from congenital diseases.
Academic text (2009) -
Thalassemia is a congenital disease; Iran lies in the thalassemic region of the world, and the prevalence of thalassemia is 2.3% in Iran.
Academic text (2007) -
Cody was born with a congenital disease that affects his heart function.
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Many children around the world are affected by various congenital diseases.
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Doctors diagnosed her with a rare congenital disease shortly after her birth.
Synonyms
30
3.2
A health problem a baby has when they are born
3
4.2
A problem in the body or how it works that is present at birth
1
6.0
A body or organ problem present when a baby is born
1
5.4
A health problem in the body or the way it works that is present when a baby is born
1
4.9
A health problem a person has at birth, often from parents' genes or events before birth
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a disease present from birth' is directly and compositionally derived from combining 'congenital' (present at birth) with 'disease' (a medical condition). This adjective+noun pattern is regular and cross‑linguistically common, so learners who know both constituents can readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Congenital disease comes from old words meaning 'born with'. The simple image is that congenital describes something you already have when you are born, so the phrase means a disease 'present from birth', often linked to genes or the mother's health before birth.