rheumatoid arthritis

noun

|Updated on: 14 Aug 2018

Definition of rheumatoid arthritis

: a usually chronic autoimmune disease that is characterized especially by pain, stiffness, inflammation, swelling, and sometimes destruction of joints — compare osteoarthritis

See rheumatoid arthritis defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of rheumatoid arthritis from the Web

Basically anything that can give you a fever, including autoimmune conditions like rheumatoid arthritisNotice a pattern with tuberculosis, brucellosis, and HIV/AIDS?

— nina bahadur, SELF, "11 Potential Causes of Those Night Sweats That Leave You Drenched," 30 June 2018
The cost of one rheumatoid arthritis medication soared from $6 per pill in 2011 to $135 in 2015.

— NBC News, "Medicare spending on name-brand drugs rose by 77 percent over five years, even as usage fell," 5 June 2018
Methotrexate, in addition to its key role in treating leukemia, is incorporated in treatment protocols for everything from sarcoma to certain lymphomas to autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.

— aaron gilbreath, Longreads, "We Are Scientists," 5 June 2018
The amount of rebates can vary widely, with some drugs, like Humira and Enbrel that treat rheumatoid arthritis, being deeply discounted.

— reed abelson, New York Times, "UnitedHealthcare Says It Will Pass On Rebates From Drug Companies to Consumers," 6 Mar. 2018
Cryotherapy, in particular, has been used in Japan to treat rheumatoid arthritis since the 1970s.

— jacqueline detwiler, Popular Mechanics, "I Hacked My Body So You Don't Have To," 25 June 2018
Hedy departed today on her next big adventure after a long battle with Parkinson's and rheumatoid arthritis. Born in Bristol, but raised in Southington CT, daughter of Carl & Hedwig Volscho.

— courant.com, "Hedy C. Miles Doty," 30 June 2018
Fish helps reduce the development of rheumatoid arthritis.

— orthocincy, Cincinnati.com, "Benefits of eating fish," 19 June 2018
But Zanos believes some conditions such as diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease could be monitored with nerve implants in the not-too-distant future.

— tim hornyak, Scientific American, "Could Future Nerve Implants Detect and Monitor Illness?," 10 May 2018

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

First Known Use of rheumatoid arthritis

1859

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year

NEW! Time Traveler