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AIDS 
Audio Help [eydz] Pronunciation Key
Audio Help [eydz] Pronunciation Key –noun Pathology.
| a disease of the immune system characterized by increased susceptibility to opportunistic infections, as pneumocystis carinii pneumonia and candidiasis, to certain cancers, as Kaposi's sarcoma, and to neurological disorders: caused by a retrovirus and transmitted chiefly through blood or blood products that enter the body's bloodstream, esp. by sexual contact or contaminated hypodermic needles. |
| Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006. |
AIDS
To learn more about AIDS visit Britannica.com
| © 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |
aid
Audio Help [eyd] Pronunciation Key
—Related forms
Audio Help [eyd] Pronunciation Key –verb (used with object)
–verb (used without object)
–noun
| 1. | to provide support for or relief to; help: to aid the homeless victims of the fire. |
| 2. | to promote the progress or accomplishment of; facilitate. |
| 3. | to give help or assistance. |
| 4. | help or support; assistance. |
| 5. | a person or thing that aids or furnishes assistance; helper; auxiliary. |
| 6. | aids, Manège.
|
| 7. | aide-de-camp. |
| 8. | foreign aid. |
| 9. | a payment made by feudal vassals to their lord on special occasions. |
| 10. | English History. (after 1066) any of several revenues received by a king in the Middle Ages from his vassals and other subjects, limited by the Magna Charta to specified occasions. |
[Origin: 1375–1425; (n.) late ME ayde < AF, OF aide, n. deriv. of aid(i)er < L adjūtāre to help (freq. of adjuvāre), equiv. to ad- ad- + -jū- help + -t- freq. suffix + -āre inf. suffix; (v.) < AF, OF aid(i)er < L, as above]
] —Related forms
aider, noun
aidful, adjective
aidless, adjective
—Antonyms 2. hinder, frustrate.
—Usage note Although the nouns aid and aide both have among their meanings “an assisting person,” the spelling aide is increasingly used for the sense “helper, assistant”: One of the senator's aides is calling. Aide in military use is short for aide-de-camp. It is also the spelling in nurse's aide.
| Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006. |
| aid
Audio Help (ād) Pronunciation Key
intr. & tr.v. aid·ed, aid·ing, aids To help or furnish with help, support, or relief. See Synonyms at help. n.
[Middle English aiden, from Old French aider, from Latin adiūtāre, frequentative of adiuvāre, to help : ad-, to; see ad- in Indo-European roots + iuvāre, to help.] aid'er n. |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
| AIDS
Audio Help (ādz) Pronunciation Key
n. A severe immunological disorder caused by the retrovirus HIV, resulting in a defect in cell-mediated immune response that is manifested by increased susceptibility to opportunistic infections and to certain rare cancers, especially Kaposi's sarcoma. It is transmitted primarily by exposure to contaminated body fluids, especially blood and semen. [a(cquired) i(mmune) d(eficiency) s(yndrome).] |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
AIDS
1982, acronym formed from acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
| Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper |
| aids | |
noun | |
| a serious (often fatal) disease of the immune system transmitted through blood products especially by sexual contact or contaminated needles |
| WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University. |
AIDS [eidz] — abbreviation
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome; a disease that affects the immune system
Example: He had a blood test to see if he had AIDS.
Example: He had a blood test to see if he had AIDS.
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| Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary, © 2000-2006 K Dictionaries Ltd. |
| AIDS
Audio Help (ādz) Pronunciation Key
Short for acquired immune deficiency syndrome. An infectious disease of the immune system caused by an human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). AIDS is characterized by a decrease in the number of helper T cells, which causes a severe immunodeficiency that leaves the body susceptible to a variety of potentially fatal infections. The virus is transmitted in infected bodily fluids such as semen and blood, as through sexual intercourse, the use of contaminated hypodermic syringes, and placental transfer between mother and fetus. Although a cure or vaccine is not yet available, a number of antiviral drugs can decrease the viral load and subsequent infections in patients with AIDS. |
| The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
AIDS [(aydz)]
Acronym for acquired immune deficiency syndrome, a fatal disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV. Believed to have originated in Africa, AIDS has become an epidemic, infecting tens of millions of people worldwide. The virus, which is transmitted from one individual to another through the exchange of body fluids (such as blood or semen), attacks white blood cells, thereby causing the body to lose its capacity to ward off infection. As a result, many AIDS patients die of opportunistic infections that strike their debilitated bodies. AIDS first appeared in the United States in 1981, primarily among homosexuals and intravenous drug users who shared needles, but throughout the world, it is also transmitted by heterosexual contact. Today, scientists are hopeful that AIDS can be managed by new drugs, such as protease inhibitors, and need not be fatal. (See AZT.)
[Chapter:] Medicine and Health
| The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
AIDS (ādz)
n.
A severe immunological disorder caused by HIV, transmitted primarily through venereal routes or by exposure to contaminated blood or blood products, resulting in a defect in cell-mediated immune response manifested by increased susceptibility to opportunistic infections and to certain rare cancers, especially Kaposi's sarcoma.
| The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. |
Main Entry: AIDS
Pronunciation: 'Adz
Function: noun
: a disease of the human immune system that is characterized cytologically especially by a reduction inthe numbers of CD4-bearing helper T cells to 20 percent or less of normal thereby rendering the subject highly vulnerable to life-threatening conditions (as Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia) and to somethat become life-threatening (as Kaposi's sarcoma) and that is caused by infection with HIV commonly transmitted in infected blood especially during illicit intravenous drug use and in bodilysecretions (as semen) during sexual intercourse called also acquired immune deficiency syndrome, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
| Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc. |
AIDS jargon
/aydz/ A* Infected Disk Syndrome ("A*" is a glob pattern that matches, but is not limited to, Apple Computer), this condition is quite often the result of practicing unsafe SEX.
See virus, worm, Trojan horse, virgin.
[The Jargon File]
(1995-04-13)
| The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe |
AIDS
/aydz/ n. Short for A* Infected Disk Syndrome (`A*' is a glob pattern that matches, but is not limited to, Apple or Amiga), this condition is quite often the result of practicing unsafe SEX. See virus, worm, Trojan horse, virgin.| Jargon File 4.2.0 |
| AIDS acquired immune deficiency syndrome |
| The American Heritage® Abbreviations Dictionary, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
AIDS
AIDS: in Acronym Finder
| Acronym Finder, © 1988-2007 Mountain Data Systems |
AIDS
AIDS: in CancerWEB's On-line Medical Dictionary
| On-line Medical Dictionary, © 1997-98 Academic Medical Publishing & CancerWEB |
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