myxedema

noun

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myx·ede·ma | \ ˌmik-sə-ˈdē-mə

Definition of myxedema

: severe hypothyroidism characterized by firm inelastic edema, dry skin and hair, and loss of mental and physical vigor

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Examples of myxedema in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Particularly in situations where people get illnesses such as the flu, people can get an infection and go into the state of myxedema coma, a life-threatening disorder where the mortality rate is extremely high. — BostonGlobe.com, 9 Dec. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'myxedema.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for myxedema

myx- + edema

Note: Term introduced by the British physician William Miller Ord (1834-1902) in "On myxœdema, a term proposed to be applied to the essential condition in the 'cretinoid' affection occasionally observed in middle-aged women," Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. 61 (1878), p. 71: "As regards the class of cases immediately in question, my suggestion is that the whole collection of symptoms are related as effects to jelly-like swelling of the connective tissue, chiefly if not entirely consisting in an overgrowth of the mucus-yielding cement by which the fibrils of the white element are held together. Accordingly I propose to give the name of Myxœdema to the affection.""