Alzheimer's disease
21
3.7
- noun
- /ˈælzhaɪmərz dɪˈziːz/
- Specialized
:
enfermedad de Alzheimer
- There's a link between meat and Alzheimer's disease that came as a huge surprise.
- Alzheimer's disease and dementia
- memory loss in Alzheimer's disease
- Alzheimer's disease patients
Examples
-
For example, they could monitor someone with Alzheimer's disease, making sure the patient took medication and did not wander off.
Academic text (2008) -
Clients with a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease or related dementia were excluded from the study.
Academic text (2008) -
But what if your mother had Alzheimer's disease and was living in a care home?
Academic text (2011) -
Earlier, there had been the problem about the woman with Alzheimer's disease who could not swallow.
Academic text (1994) -
When I encountered my mother again, she was suffering from advanced Alzheimer's disease and did not recognize me.
Fiction book (1990) -
Maggie had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease several years previously.
Academic text (2011) -
The trend toward creating special care units for people with Alzheimer's disease or other types of dementia is particularly problematic.
Academic text (1994) -
Should she comfort a person with Alzheimer's disease who is waiting anxiously for her?
Academic text (1994) -
Among the most debilitating of illnesses is Alzheimer's disease, which affects memory, cognition, and behavior.
Academic text (1994) -
More than five million Americans now suffer from Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.
Synonyms
76
6.9
A long-term loss of memory and changes in thinking and personality that make daily life hard
7
7.3
A loss of mental or physical strength in old age often causing memory loss and confusion
5
3.2
An illness that damages the brain and makes it work less well
5
3.7
A health problem that harms the brain and how it works
1
6.2
Loss of memory and thinking in older people caused by gradual brain damage not from stroke
A brain disease that slowly gets worse and causes memory loss and confusion
How Impaired
- Specialized
21
3.7
- Specialized
76
6.9
- Slang
7
7.3
Surface Forms
Morphology
The term combines the proper name 'Alzheimer's' (a specific syndrome affecting memory and thinking) with the noun 'disease' (an illness), so a learner who knows both constituents can infer it refers to the illness associated with Alzheimer’s. This compositional, name+ disease pattern is cross-linguistically common (e.g., enfermedad de Alzheimer), making the meaning transparent to learners who know the parts.
Etymology
Alzheimer's disease is named after Dr. Alois Alzheimer, who cared for a patient with severe 'memory loss' and later saw strange clumps and tangles in her brain after she died. So the name now means a brain illness that causes 'memory loss' and problems with thinking.