Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The conviction that one is or is likely to become ill, often involving symptoms when illness is neither present nor likely, and persisting despite reassurance and medical evidence to the contrary.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Plural of
hypochondrium . - noun A morbid condition characterized by exaggerated uneasiness and anxiety as to one's health, and also by extreme general depression; low spirits: in this sense often abbreviated hypo, or formerly hyp, hip. See
hypo . hip.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Med.) An excessive concern about one's own health, particularly a morbid worry about illnesses which a person imagines are affecting him, often focusing on specific symptoms; also called
hypochondriasis .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun medicine A
psychological disorder characterized by excessivepreoccupation orworry about having a serious illness. - noun anatomy Plural form of
hypochondrium .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun chronic and abnormal anxiety about imaginary symptoms and ailments
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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I’m lucky in that hypochondria is the one thing I don’t suffer from.
Polyp Weather « We Don't Count Your Own Visits To Your Blog 2008
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In fact, hypochondria is the one thing I don’t suffer from. trigger points legs and hips; slouching hip pain; copper for hip joint pain; right hip aches in bed; something wrong with my hip down to my knee; I have two extra bones in my hip; pain down right leg also hip;
Another week’s worth of search junk « We Don't Count Your Own Visits To Your Blog 2006
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Another problem, O'Neill says, is that health anxiety – which used to be called hypochondria – is not taken seriously.
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It seems more like an extreme manifestation of something along the lines of what's often called hypochondria or somatoform pain disorder -- which is not at all the same as 'faking it,' but still nothing like what goes on in gender dysphoria -- and has more, in fact, in common with eating disorders generally.
I learn from US TV (gasp!) and even more from my E ticket ride. Elizabeth McClung 2007
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When you're a doctor it's not called hypochondria -- it's called experience.
What's my motivation? Douglas Hoffman 2005
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'I guess the hypochondria was her only means of getting attention from my father.
Texas! Lucky Brown, Sandra, 1948- 1990
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'I guess the hypochondria was her only means of getting attention from my father.
Texas! Lucky Brown, Sandra, 1948- 1990
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After puberty, and during early adolescence, when a certain amount of knowledge has been acquired, we leave youth free to learn lies from advertisements, carefully calculated to foster the tendency to hypochondria, which is often associated with such matters.
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I have had a pretty severe return this summer of that melancholy, or hypochondria, which is inherent in my constitution ....
Life Of Johnson Boswell, James, 1740-1795 1887
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Sometimes it manifests itself in the milder forms of hallucination, or monomania, but in the majority of cases, the patient sinks into a despondent hypochondria, which is many times followed, sooner or later, by a raving mania.
The People's Common Sense Medical Adviser in Plain English or, Medicine Simplified, 54th ed., One Million, Six Hundred and Fifty Thousand Ray Vaughn Pierce 1877
whichbe commented on the word hypochondria
la maladie sans maladie
May 12, 2008
artoparts commented on the word hypochondria
The term hypochondria was coined by the ancient Greeks from Hypo = below + Chondros = cartilage (of the ribs). It was their opinion that the set of symptoms originated just below the ribs (i.e. in the upper abdomen). So, sit up straight and don't slouch. They also believed that the psychological symptoms which often accompanied the ailment were the result of the illness. See: cyberchondria.
January 31, 2009
reesetee commented on the word hypochondria
*sits up*
January 31, 2009