rheumatic

adjective rheu·mat·ic \ ru̇-ˈma-tik \

|Updated on: 1 Jun 2018

Definition of rheumatic

: of, relating to, characteristic of, or affected with rheumatism

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rheumatically

play \ru̇-ˈma-ti-k(ə-)lē\ adverb

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Recent Examples of rheumatic from the Web

And Al-Zubaidi, who suffers from rheumatic heart disease, was struggling to obtain her heart medicine.

— abigail hauslohner, Washington Post, "Coveted exemptions from Trump’s travel ban remain elusive for citizens of Muslim-majority countries," 22 May 2018
Thousands of Kenyans have heart valves scarred by rheumatic heart disease, which hardly exists in wealthy countries with ready access to antibiotics but is common in poor nations.

— donald g. mcneil jr., New York Times, "Jewish Philanthropists Create a Prize for Christian Missionaries," 27 Oct. 2017
In the 1980s, before the days of easy and cheap genomics, blood samples were taken with consent to analyze the unusually high levels of rheumatic disease in the Nuu-chah-nulth people of the Pacific Northwest of Canada.

— adam rutherford, The Atlantic, "A New History of the First Peoples in the Americas," 3 Oct. 2017
In 1931, at the age of 64, David Sr. died of rheumatic fever, and in 1937, David Jr. was killed in an accident.

— taysha murtaugh, Country Living, "This Abandoned 1920s Castle Exists Right Here in the U.S.—and It's for Sale," 8 Aug. 2017
Symptoms of heart valve damage often don’t appear until many years after recovery from rheumatic fever.

— martha ross, The Mercury News, "Bill Paxton’s death related to heart defect and possibly to childhood illness," 7 Mar. 2017
The disease is mostly a relic of the past in rich and middle-income countries, where pediatricians quickly treat strep throat and rheumatic fever in children, which causes the joint pain once called childhood rheumatism.

— donald g. mcneil jr., New York Times, "Scientists Link a Gene Mutation to Rheumatic Heart Disease," 29 May 2017
That connection was strengthened by immunologist Madeleine Cunningham, a rheumatic fever expert from the University of Oklahoma.

— pamela weintraub, Discover Magazine, "Hidden Invaders," 29 Mar. 2017

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

Origin and Etymology of rheumatic

Middle English rewmatik subject to rheum, from Anglo-French reumatike, from Latin rheumaticus, from Greek rheumatikos, from rheumat-, rheuma

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1711

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year