deficiency disease
1
4.1
- noun
- /dɪˈfɪʃənsi dɪˈziːz/
- Specialized
:
enfermedad por deficiencia
- Malnutrition often results in various deficiency diseases, including beriberi and rickets, which can significantly impact health.
- deficiency disease pellagra
Examples
-
It was mentioned only by professional healers and was identified as a deficiency disease (Salala; Manyandikiya).
Academic text (1991) -
In the case of deficiency diseases, clear cause-and-effect relationships exist between disease and individual nutritional elements.
Academic text (2004) -
In many cases, the characterization of essential nutrients emerged from the study of deficiency diseases.
Academic text (2004) -
Toward the end, food and drinking water were in short supply, the crew and officers suffered from scurvy and other deficiency diseases, and fatalities occurred.
Academic text (1996) -
You can't catch it because it's a deficiency disease like beriberi. "I never heard of that either," Shirl said.
Fiction book (1993) -
Only in the twentieth century was scurvy shown to be a deficiency disease caused by a specific molecular food component now known as vitamin C.
Academic text (2004) -
This approach appeared highly effective; infectious and deficiency diseases fell before it; anesthesia, surgical techniques, and life support are a boon.
Academic text (2001) -
Marco Neri was 69 when he was treated in hospital for symptoms of the nutritional deficiency disease, pellagra, in the spring of 1939.
Academic text (1992) -
KEYWORDS: pellagra; nutritional deficiency disease; corn; agricultural intensification; Italian Unification
Academic text (1992) -
A lack of vitamin C can lead to scurvy, a serious deficiency disease that causes fatigue and joint pain.
Synonyms
A health problem caused by not having enough vitamins in the body
A condition where an organ or tissue becomes weak and smaller because of poor nutrition
Antonyms
How Severe
- Specialized
1
4.1
- Specialized
1
6.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'deficiency' (a lack of something necessary) modifies 'disease' to signal a disease caused by that lack. A B1 learner who knows both constituent words can readily infer this sense, and the modifier+noun pattern is cross-linguistically common.
Etymology
Deficiency disease comes from the words deficiency, meaning 'lack', and disease, meaning 'illness'. For example, imagine a plant that does not get water or a child who is missing a vitamin. The body cannot work well and gets sick, so the phrase means a sickness caused by not having an important nutrient.