Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A noncontagious inflammation of the skin, characterized chiefly by redness, itching, and the outbreak of lesions that may discharge serous matter and become encrusted and scaly.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun An inflammation of the skin attended with considerable exudation of lymph.
- noun Acute eczema when the color of the skin is very red.
- noun Pityriasis rubra.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Med.) An inflammatory disease of the skin, characterized by the presence of redness and itching, an eruption of small vesicles, and the discharge of a watery exudation, which often dries up, leaving the skin covered with crusts; -- called also
tetter ,milk crust , andsalt rheum .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun An acute or chronic
inflammation of theskin , characterized by redness, itching, and the outbreak of oozingvesicular lesions which become encrusted and scaly. It is noncontagious.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun generic term for inflammatory conditions of the skin; particularly with vesiculation in the acute stages
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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Papular eczema (_eczema papulosum_) is characterized by the appearance, usually in numbers, of discrete, aggregated or closely-crowded, reddish, pin-head-sized acuminated or rounded papules.
Essentials of Diseases of the Skin Including the Syphilodermata Arranged in the Form of Questions and Answers Prepared Especially for Students of Medicine Henry Weightman Stelwagon 1886
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Erythematous eczema (_eczema erythematosum_) begins as one or more small or large, irregularly outlined hyperæmic macules or patches, with or without slight or marked swelling, and with more or less itching or burning.
Essentials of Diseases of the Skin Including the Syphilodermata Arranged in the Form of Questions and Answers Prepared Especially for Students of Medicine Henry Weightman Stelwagon 1886
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Pustular eczema (_eczema pustulosum_, _eczema impetiginosum_) is probably the least common of all the varieties.
Essentials of Diseases of the Skin Including the Syphilodermata Arranged in the Form of Questions and Answers Prepared Especially for Students of Medicine Henry Weightman Stelwagon 1886
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Squamous eczema (_eczema squamosum_) may be defined as a clinical variety, the chief symptoms of which are a variable degree of scaliness, more or less thickening, infiltration, and redness, with commonly a tendency to cracking or fissuring of the skin, especially when the disease is seated about the joints.
Essentials of Diseases of the Skin Including the Syphilodermata Arranged in the Form of Questions and Answers Prepared Especially for Students of Medicine Henry Weightman Stelwagon 1886
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Now, the term eczema usually refers to atopic eczema, or atopic dermatitis (atopic means “allergic”), which is a complex genetic disorder that results in defective skin barriers, reduced innate skin immune responses, and exaggerated immune (T cell) responses to environmental allergens that lead to chronic skin inflammation.
You Raising Your Child Michael F. Roizen 2010
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Now, the term eczema usually refers to atopic eczema, or atopic dermatitis (atopic means “allergic”), which is a complex genetic disorder that results in defective skin barriers, reduced innate skin immune responses, and exaggerated immune (T cell) responses to environmental allergens that lead to chronic skin inflammation.
You Raising Your Child Michael F. Roizen 2010
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Now, the term eczema usually refers to atopic eczema, or atopic dermatitis (atopic means “allergic”), which is a complex genetic disorder that results in defective skin barriers, reduced innate skin immune responses, and exaggerated immune (T cell) responses to environmental allergens that lead to chronic skin inflammation.
You Raising Your Child Michael F. Roizen 2010
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Now, the term eczema usually refers to atopic eczema, or atopic dermatitis (atopic means “allergic”), which is a complex genetic disorder that results in defective skin barriers, reduced innate skin immune responses, and exaggerated immune (T cell) responses to environmental allergens that lead to chronic skin inflammation.
You Raising Your Child Michael F. Roizen 2010
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The term eczema is now applied very generally to eruptions of all kinds that depend on internal disorders or constitutional conditions and that tend to recurrences and inveteracy.
Special Report on Diseases of the Horse Charles B. Michener 1877
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The term eczema is broadly applied to a range of skin conditions.
cbbudman commented on the word eczema
American Heritage Dictionary is wrong with their pronunciation of eczema. I am 69 years old and the English teachers I had, taught us that when a word ends in a vowel, the vowel preceding the last consonant is to be pronounced as a long sound. Earlier dictionaries agree with me and show a line over the second E. Even dictionaries that show a so called secondary accepted pronunciation put the long sound first. It is properly pronounced Ek zee muh.
June 15, 2010
chained_bear commented on the word eczema
Those American Heritage Dictionary bastards...
June 15, 2010
chelster commented on the word eczema
N.B. to those speakers who say or were taught to say ek-ZEE-muh (or eg-), with stress on the second syllable and a long e as in see. This variant has been heard since the 19th century, but there is no etymological basis for it, medical references from the 19th century to the present have ignored it, and numerous authorities have frowned upon it: e.g., “The pronunciation ek-ZEE-muh, though common, is contrary to the Latin accentuation” — Webster’s New International Dictionary, 1909; “eczema . . . is pronounced EK-ze-ma, not eg-ZEE-ma,” John B. Opdycke, Don’t Say It, 1939. Although you will find it listed in current dictionaries, second-syllable stress remains distinctly second-class, and modern authorities do not countenance it.
N.B. to cbbudman, regarding the line you saw over the medial e in "earlier dictionaries": I'm guessing that you consulted one or more of the G. & C. Merriam dictionaries, which used a horizontal line with a short vertical stem to indicate the lightened sound of e in words like event and serene. It looks a bit like a macron (the long-e mark) but it isn't.
— The Orthoepist
June 16, 2010
chained_bear commented on the word eczema
Those Merriam bastards...
June 16, 2010