multiple sclerosis


nounPathology.
  1. a chronic degenerative, often episodic disease of the central nervous system marked by patchy destruction of the myelin that surrounds and insulates nerve fibers, usually appearing in young adulthood and manifested by one or more mild to severe neural and muscular impairments, as spastic weakness in one or more limbs, local sensory losses, bladder dysfunction, or visual disturbances.

Origin of multiple sclerosis

1
First recorded in 1880–85

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use multiple sclerosis in a sentence

  • multiple sclerosis usually begins in people between the ages of twenty and forty, affecting slightly more women than men.

British Dictionary definitions for multiple sclerosis

multiple sclerosis

noun
  1. a chronic progressive disease of the central nervous system characterized by loss of some of the myelin sheath surrounding certain nerve fibres and resulting in speech and visual disorders, tremor, muscular incoordination, partial paralysis, etc: Also called: disseminated sclerosis

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for multiple sclerosis

multiple sclerosis

[ sklə-rōsĭs ]


  1. A chronic degenerative disease of the central nervous system in which gradual destruction of myelin occurs in the brain or spinal cord or both, interfering with the nerve pathways and causing muscular weakness, loss of coordination, and speech and visual disturbances. It occurs chiefly in young adults and is thought to be caused by a defect in the immune system that may be of genetic or viral origin.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Cultural definitions for multiple sclerosis

multiple sclerosis

[ (skluh-roh-sis) ]


A chronic disease of the central nervous system characterized by the hardening of patches of tissue in the brain and spinal cord. The cause of this disease has to do with damage to the sheathes of nerves, and there is no specific treatment. It occurs in varying degrees of severity and, in the worst case, can result in permanent paralysis.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.