DEMENTIA

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does dementia mean? 

• DEMENTIA (noun)
  The noun DEMENTIA has 1 sense:

1. mental deterioration of organic or functional origin

  Familiarity information: DEMENTIA used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DEMENTIA (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Mental deterioration of organic or functional origin

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

dementedness; dementia

Hypernyms ("dementia" is a kind of...):

insanity (relatively permanent disorder of the mind)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "dementia"):

alcohol amnestic disorder; alcoholic dementia; Korsakoff's psychosis; Korsakoff's syndrome; Korsakov's psychosis; Korsakov's syndrome; polyneuritic psychosis (dementia observed during the last stages of severe chronic alcoholism; involves loss of memory for recent events although long term memory is intact)

presenile dementia (dementia with onset before the age of 65)

senile dementia; senile psychosis (dementia of the aged; results from degeneration of the brain in the absence of cerebrovascular disease)

 Context examples 

Dementia is the name for a group of symptoms caused by disorders that affect the brain.

(Dementia, NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)

Dementia usually gets worse over time.

(Dementia, NCI Dictionary)

On the other hand, dementia develops slowly and does not cause hallucinations.

(Delirium, NIH)

It has a slow and progressive clinical course and is characterized by developmental delay, macrocephaly, seizures, dementia and spasticity.

(Alexander Disease, NCI Thesaurus)

Felodipine was effective at reducing the build-up of aggregates in the mice with the Huntington’s and Parkinson’s disease mutations and in the zebrafish dementia model.

(Blood pressure drug shows promise for treating Parkinson’s and dementia in animal studies, University of Cambridge)

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia among older people.

(Alzheimer's Disease, NIH: National Institute on Aging)

It may lead to cognitive problems and dementia.

(CADASIL Syndrome, NCI Thesaurus)

Signs and symptoms include hepatosplenomegaly, pancytopenia, ataxia, dystonia, and dementia.

(Niemann-Pick Disease, NCI Thesaurus)

Signs and symptoms include abnormal gait, blindness, depression, paralysis, seizures and dementia.

(Neurosyphilis, NCI Thesaurus)

It is characterized by progressive neurologic deterioration manifested with ataxia, dementia, seizures, and dystonia.

(Niemann-Pick Disease, Type C, NCI Thesaurus)