pathology

 
Pronunciation: /pəˈθɒlədʒi/

noun

[mass noun]
  • the science of the causes and effects of diseases, especially the branch of medicine that deals with the laboratory examination of samples of body tissue for diagnostic or forensic purposes: research people skilled in experimental pathology
  • Medicine pathological features considered collectively; the typical behaviour of a disease: the pathology of Huntington’s disease
  • Medicine a pathological condition: the dominant pathology is multiple sclerosis
  • [usually with modifier] mental, social, or linguistic abnormality or malfunction: the city’s inability to cope with the pathology of a burgeoning underclass

Derivatives

pathologist

noun

Origin:

early 17th century: from modern or medieval Latin pathologia (see patho-, -logy)