deficiency disease

noun

, Pathology.

any illness associated with an insufficient supply of one or more essential dietary constituents.

deficiency disease

See avitaminosis
med any condition, such as pellagra, beriberi, or scurvy, produced by a lack of vitamins or other essential substances Compare avitaminosis
botany any disease caused by lack of essential minerals

First recorded in 1910–15

Dr. Chiara, who had collapsed while driving himself on to care for the sick, was sure it was a deficiency disease.

It was an amount amazingly large and many of the items had presumably been exhausted during the deficiency disease attack.

Nothing could be more incongruous than the occurrence of a deficiency disease in this land of plenty.

Medical men thought it was a deficiency disease, but they had not traced down the deficiency responsible.

April 23, 2024inveterate

[in-vet-er-it ]

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