allopathy
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English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Borrowed from German Allopathie, allo- + -pathy, originally a pejorative term.[1]
Noun
allopathy (countable and uncountable, plural allopathies)
- (uncountable, originally) A system of heroic medicine that treats symptoms with substances that produce the opposite effect.
- (countable) Conventional Western medicine; a method or treatment therein.
- Synonym: allopathic medicine
Usage notes
- Originally, this indicated solely treatment according to the "law of opposites" rather than the homeopathic "law of similars"; it is now principally used to distinguish conventional medicine from homeopathy (USA, UK, EU), especially in the literature of homeopathy.
- In the United States, the term is sometimes used to distinguish MDs from DOs (osteopathic physicians), usually in discussions of medical education.
- In India, used principally to distinguish "Western medicine" from Ayurveda, especially when comparing treatments and drugs.
Derived terms
Translations
historical: alternative medicine
traditional medical method or treatment
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References
- ^ James C. Whorton (2004) Nature Cures: The History of Alternative Medicine in America, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 18:
- One form of verbal warfare used in retaliation by irregulars was the word “allopathy.” Coined two hundred years ago by Samuel Hahnemann […] and was intended, among other things, to indicate that regular doctors used methods that were unrelated to the disharmony produced by disease and thus were harmful to their patients.
