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 them
2 : 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>