Word Of The Day

Dorland's Word of the Day is a great way to broaden your knowledge of medical terminology. With a new and interesting term brought to you from the 32nd edition of Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary each day, it's an easy and fun way to increase your medical vocabulary!

You can view a new word on this website each day.

Today's Word

acute chest syndrome

a complex of symptoms seen in patients with sickle cell disease, often due to a bacterial infection or to infarction of lung tissue; characteristics include severe chest pain, dyspnea, tachypnea, fever, excessive leukocytosis, pulmonary edema, and sometimes petechiae on the chest or conjunctivae as well as fat emboli. Death may result from severe pulmonary complications.

Word of the Day Archive

symporter

a membrane transport protein that mediates the cotransport of substances in the same direction.

survivin

a protein that neutralizes caspase activity and thus inhibits apoptosis (programmed cell death), expressed during the G2/M phase of the cell cycle in many tumors but not in most normal differentiated adult tissues.

superovulation

extraordinary acceleration of ovulation, producing a greater than normal number of ova, usually as a result of administration of exogenous gonadotropins.

sundowning

confusion, agitation, and other severely disruptive behavior coupled with inability to remain asleep, occurring solely or markedly worsening at night; sometimes seen in older patients with dementia or other mental disorders.

skin substitute

a material used to cover wounds and burns where extensive areas of skin are missing and promote healing; effective skin substitutes are bilaminar, with dermal analogue and epidermal analogue layers, and may be synthetic or manufactured from tissue elements.

Moore's lightning streaks

vertical flashes of light resembling lightning, sometimes seen on the peripheral side of the field of vision when the eyes are moved; a benign condition.

transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS)

electrical stimulation of nerves for relief of pain, either by electrodes attached to the skin or by an apparatus manually held against the skin; the stimulus interferes with neural transmission of pain signals and thus has an analgesic effect. Called also transcutaneous nerve stimulation (TNS).