attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

noun

variants or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

: attention deficit disorder

—abbreviation ADHD

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

Ritalin is the latest attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication in short supply—after a months-long Adderall shortage—leaving patients who rely on these drugs to manage daily symptoms without proper treatment. —Conor Murray, Forbes, 27 Jan. 2023

For instance, a patient that fidgets, has poor concentration, becomes easily distracted and is unable to remain still may have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). —Donna Sarkar, Discover Magazine, 3 May 2021

Parenting a child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is demanding, and helping kids with ADHD understand themselves and their ADHD symptoms isn’t easy. —Kimberly Wilson, Essence, 13 Apr. 2021

Add one more to the list of environmental factors that could contribute to the rise in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): pesticides. —Andrew Moseman, Discover Magazine, 17 May 2010

This medication is actually a combination of two medications amphetamine and dextroamphetamine and typically used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). —Bruce Y. Lee, Forbes, 31 Dec. 2022

Sarfo dances and acts out short skits about attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, eating disorders and other mental health conditions. —Hannah Norman, CNN, 19 Mar. 2022

Perhaps unsurprisingly, maladaptive daydreaming tends to occur alongside other disorders, the most common being attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. —Giulia Poerio, CNN, 9 Jan. 2023

By the age of 5, he was diagnosed with ADHD, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. —CBS News, 5 Nov. 2022

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Word History

First Known Use

1987, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

noun

variants or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

: attention deficit disorder

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is the most common pediatric psychiatric condition, estimated to affect 2 percent to 9 percent of American children, mostly boys.

—Susan Gilbert, The New York Times

… the drug that has come to symbolize our particular predicaments is Ritalin, the widely prescribed treatment for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, or attention-deficit disorder, as it is more popularly known.

—Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker

Discoveries in neuroscience are reinforcing a growing consensus that attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), as it is officially known, is not just a set of behavior problems but a biologically based disorder of brain function.

—Harvard Mental Health Letter

—abbreviation ADHD