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Glite Dictionary
pleuritic

pleuritic

1 9.6
Relating to swelling and pain in the lining around the lungs that gets worse when breathing
  • adjective
  • /plʊˈrɪtɪk/
  • Specialized
: pleurítico
  • The patient experienced severe discomfort due to pleuritic chest pain when taking deep breaths.
  • pleuritic chest pain
  • pleuritic chest

Examples

  • One month later, right-sided pleuritic chest pain and exertional dyspnea developed.

    Academic text (1992)

  • After complaining of a dry cough, he was diagnosed with pleuritic inflammation in his chest.

  • These include fever (93%), dyspnea (36%), pleuritic chest pain (29%), cough (14%), and hemoptysis (7%).

    Academic text (2007)

  • Doctors often associate pleuritic pain with inflammation in the pleura surrounding the lungs.

Synonyms

pleural
vspleuritic
  • Specialized
9 8.8

Relating to the thin lining around the lungs and inside the chest

refers specifically to inflammation affecting that membrane

Surface Forms

pleuritic positive

Morphology

pleuritic = pleura (semi-transparent) = pleur + itic

Formed from the medical combining form 'pleur-' (pleura) plus the adjectival suffix '-itic'; the relation is predictable to learners with medical vocabulary but may be unfamiliar to a general B1 learner.

Etymology

Pleuritic comes from the Greek word pleura, meaning 'side' or 'rib', because the pleura is the thin covering at the side of the lungs. So pleuritic describes pain or swelling of that lung covering, often a sharp pain that gets worse when you breathe.