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organic disorder

organic disorder

1 5.1
Physical changes in an organ or part of the body cause a health problem
  • noun
  • /ɔrˈɡænɪk dɪsˈɔrdər/
  • Specialized
translation icon : trastorno orgánico
  • The doctor explained that her fatigue was due to an organic disorder affecting her thyroid gland.

Examples

  • Memory loss generally occurs in large numbers due to organic disorders, brain damage, or nerve problems.

    Blog text (1)
  • Obviously, he has an organic disorder.

    Academic text (1995)
  • There'll be a greater ability to provide an accurate diagnosis of organic disorders.

    Blog text (16)
  • Patients with an organic disorder often experience symptoms directly related to the physical changes in their body.

  • Identifying an organic disorder can help in understanding the underlying causes of the patient's condition.

Antonyms

functional disorder
  • Specialized
6.4

A condition that causes real symptoms without a clear physical cause

How Physical

degenerative disorder
  • Specialized
1 5.8
organic disorder
  • Specialized
1 5.1
functional disorder
  • Specialized
6.4

Surface Forms

Morphology

organic + disorder

The meaning is directly compositional: 'organic' in the medical sense means relating to physical organs or physiological causes, and 'disorder' means a medical condition, so a learner who knows both words can infer a condition caused by bodily/structural changes. Although 'organic' has other senses (e.g. natural or chemical-free), in this medical collocation the semantic combination is transparent and supported by similar formations in other languages.

Etymology

Organic disorder uses organic to mean 'from an organ' and disorder to mean a health problem. Doctors used the phrase to show the problem comes from a real physical change in an organ or part of the body, not just from thoughts or feelings, so it means a disorder with a clear physical 'cause'.