# pathology

Pronunciation: US say "puh-THAH-luh-jee" /pəˈθɑləd͡ʒi/; UK say "puh-THOL-uh-jee" /pəˈθɒləd͡ʒi/

## Noun

1. The study of the nature of disease, including its causes, processes, development, and consequences, now practiced mainly as a branch of clinical and academic medicine.
   - Simple: The study of diseases: what causes them, how they develop, and what they lead to, today mostly in medicine.
   - _A solid grounding in pathology lets a physician explain not only what a disease is but why it progresses the way it does._
   - _Her work in pathology centers on how years of chronic inflammation gradually damage the heart._
2. The clinical specialty that provides doctors with microscope examinations and other laboratory services, such as the analysis of cells and tissue samples.
   - Simple: The part of medicine that tests cells and body tissue in a lab for other doctors.
   - _After medical school she chose pathology over surgery because she loved working at the microscope._
   - _The pathology report confirmed that the tumor was benign._
3. Any departure from a healthy or normal structure or function, such as an illness, an abnormality, or a malformation.
   - Simple: Anything that is not healthy or normal in how something is formed or works, like an illness.
   - _The MRI revealed no pathology in the knee, so the team cleared him to play._
   - _The novel traces the quiet social pathology of a town that refuses to talk about its past._
4. Any of several related life-science disciplines that study the nature and causes of disease in living organisms, building the knowledge that practical applications depend on.
   - Simple: The science of how diseases affect plants, animals, and other living things.
   - _Advances in plant pathology have helped breeders develop wheat that resists rust._
   - _The university's veterinary pathology program trains researchers to study disease in livestock and wildlife._

## Origin

From French pathologie, from Ancient Greek πάθος (páthos, "disease") and -λογία (-logía, "study of").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/pathology (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).