symptomatic

• symptomatick (obsolete)

Borrowed from French symptomatique, from New Latin symptomaticus, from Ancient Greek συμπτωματικός (sumptōmatikós, “of or pertaining to a chance (or a symptom), casual”), from σύμπτωμα (súmptōma, “a symptom”). By surface analysis, symptom +‎ -atic.

• IPA^(key): /ˌsɪmp.təˈmæt.ɪk/

• Audio (Southern England):

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symptomatic (comparative more symptomatic, superlative most symptomatic)

1. (pathology) Showing symptoms.

   Antonyms: asymptomatic, nonsymptomatic

   • 2009, Stephen J. Ettinger, Edward C. Feldman, Textbook of Veterinary Internal Medicine, page 9:

     It is important to observe symptomatic cats out of the carrier, on the floor in a safe, escape-proof room. Swelling, heat, and pain in one or more joints can explain many signs, including lameness, malaise, and fever.

2. (by extension) Constituting a symptom or indication; characteristic, indicative.

   The city's problems are symptomatic of the crisis that is spreading throughout the country.

   • 1843, Thomas Macaulay, Sir James Mackintosh's History of the Revolution:

     Symptomatic of a shallow understanding and an unamiable temper.

   • 1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy:

     And it is symptomatic of the many paradoxes of Lederer's life that of all the people in the room, Brotherhood is the one whom he would most wish to serve, if ever he had the opportunity, even though — or perhaps because — his occasional efforts to ingratiate himself with his adopted hero have met with iron rebuff.

3. (medicine) Of a treatment, that only affects the symptoms of a disease without targeting the underlying cause.

   Antonym: nonsymptomatic

   Coordinate term: disease-modifying

4. (medicine) Relating to symptomatics.

   Antonym: nonsymptomatic

symptomatic (plural symptomatics)

1. A person exhibiting the symptoms of an illness.

   Antonym: asymptomatic

• “symptomatic”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “symptomatic”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.