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Glite Dictionary
Tourette's syndrome

Tourette's syndrome

4 6.2
A brain condition that causes repeated movements and sounds you cannot control
  • noun
  • /tuˈrɛts ˈsɪnˌdroʊm/
  • Specialized
translation icon : síndrome de Tourette
  • Many people with Tourette's syndrome experience involuntary tics and vocalizations throughout their lives.
  • Tourette's syndrome is a neurological disorder
  • disorder called Tourette's syndrome
  • suffer from Tourette's syndrome

Some days it's like I've got Tourette's syndrome.

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Examples

  • Children diagnosed with Tourette's syndrome may face challenges due to their involuntary movements and sounds.

  • Doctors often collaborate to develop treatments for patients diagnosed with Tourette's syndrome.

  • Even today, no one knows exactly what causes Tourette's syndrome.

    Blog text (28)

  • I was diagnosed with Tourette's syndrome when I was 10.

    Blog text (28)

  • We believe he's suffering from Tourette's syndrome.

    Love Stinks (1999)

  • She suffered from Tourette's syndrome.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • Tourette's syndrome (TS), once considered a rare disorder, has been investigated extensively in the last two decades.

    Academic text (1997)

Synonyms

Tourette syndrome
vsTourette's syndrome
  • Specialized
1 4.9

A brain condition that makes people make sudden movements or sounds they cannot control

adds repetitive aspect and sometimes includes specific sounds or inappropriate words
Gilles de la Tourette syndrome
vsTourette's syndrome
  • Specialized
6.5

A brain disorder that causes sudden unwanted movements and sounds, sometimes rude words

is broader and stresses repetitive movements and varied vocal sounds

Surface Forms

Tourette's syndrome singular

Morphology

Tourette's + syndrome

The noun 'syndrome' clearly signals a medical condition or set of symptoms, so a learner who knows that word can infer this is an illness named after someone. However, 'Tourette's' is an eponymic proper name that does not convey the characteristic features (involuntary tics and vocalizations), so the full, specific meaning is not predictable from the parts.

Etymology

Tourette's syndrome is named after the French doctor Georges Gilles de la Tourette, who in the late 1800s studied patients with repeated, sudden movements or sounds called 'tics'. That's why the condition is called Tourette's syndrome today, using the doctor's name to refer to the group of 'symptoms' he first described.