Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A pervasive developmental disorder characterized by severe deficits in social interaction and communication, by an extremely limited range of activities and interests, and often by the presence of repetitive, stereotyped behaviors.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Med.) a mental disorder characterized by inability to engage in normal social interactions and intense self-absorption, and usually accompanied by other symptoms such as language dysfunctions and repetitive behavior.
- noun behavior showing an abnormal level of absorption with one's own thoughts and disregard for external realities.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun clinical psychology
Bio- neurological disorder that is observable in earlychildhood with symptoms of abnormalself-absorption , characterised by lack ofresponse to other humans and by limited ability or disinclination tocommunicate andsocialize .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun (psychiatry) an abnormal absorption with the self; marked by communication disorders and short attention span and inability to treat others as people
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word autism.
Examples
-
The word 'autism' comes from the Greek word 'autos', meaning 'self'.
PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2009
-
In the US, the case against thimerosal-caused autism is clearly shown by the continuing rise in autism diagnoses despite the removal of thimerosal from vaccines.
US Court affirms thimerosal-autism connection "not...scientifically sound" 2010
-
In the US, the case against thimerosal-caused autism is clearly shown by the continuing rise in autism diagnoses despite the removal of thimerosal from vaccines.
Archive 2010-03-01 2010
-
To me, the term autism related to Dustin Hoffman in Rainman, I had never encountered it personally in my life.
The great vaccination debate... Madmother 2009
-
When I use the word "autism" -- or say to someone she has autism -- it's the best I can do in a short time period.
The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com Ariane Zurcher 2011
-
The term autism describes a neurodevelopmental disorder with a variety of symptoms and characteristics whose focus is on abnormal social relationships and interplay, difficulties with communications of both the verbal and non-verbal kind, a lack of focus in normal play and repetitive pattern behaviors.
-
The term autism describes a neurodevelopmental disorder with a variety of symptoms and characteristics whose focus is on abnormal social relationships and interplay, difficulties with communications of both the verbal and non-verbal kind, a lack of focus in normal play and repetitive pattern behaviors.
-
When Patti Meerschaert founded the Autism Society of Southeastern Wisconsin in 1976, the term autism was foreign to most people with as few as four or five children in 10,000 diagnosed with the learning disorder.
JSOnline.com JSOnline.com 2010
-
The term autism describes a neurodevelopmental disorder with a variety of symptoms and characteristics whose focus is on abnormal social relationships and interplay, difficulties with communications of both the verbal and non-verbal kind, a lack of focus in normal play and repetitive pattern behaviors.
-
The term autism describes a neurodevelopmental disorder with a variety of symptoms and characteristics whose focus is on abnormal social relationships and interplay, difficulties with communications of both the verbal and non-verbal kind, a lack of focus in normal play and repetitive pattern behaviors.
glasspetalsmoke commented on the word autism
Temple Grandin has autism and it's her gift. Get inside her olfactory mind and find out how this visual thinker relates to her sense of smell. http://glasspetalsmoke.blogspot.com/2012/12/inside-olfactory-mind-of-temple-grandin.html
February 17, 2013