Main Entry:

pa·thol·o·gy

Pronunciation:

\-jē\

Function:

noun

Inflected Form(s):

plural pa·thol·o·gies

Etymology:

New Latin pathologia & Middle French pathologie, from Greek pathologia study of the emotions, from path- + -logia -logy

Date:

1611

1: the study of the essential nature of diseases and especially of the structural and functional changes produced by them2: something abnormal: a: the structural and functional deviations from the normal that constitute disease or characterize a particular disease b: deviation from propriety or from an assumed normal state of something nonliving or nonmaterial c: deviation giving rise to social ills <connections between these pathologies…and crime — Wendy Kaminer>