hypochondriac

[ hahy-puh-kon-dree-ak ]
See synonyms for hypochondriac on Thesaurus.com
adjectiveAlso hy·po·chon·dri·a·cal [hahy-poh-kuhn-drahy-uh-kuhl] /ˌhaɪ poʊ kənˈdraɪ ə kəl/ .
  1. Psychiatry.

    • relating to, having, or experiencing hypochondria, an excessive preoccupation with or anxiety about one's health: This biography of the poet paints him as a hypochondriac depressive.

    • produced by an excessive preoccupation with or anxiety about one's health: Hypochondriac feelings overwhelmed her.

  2. exhibiting excessive worry about one's health: Her hypochondriac roommate had been convinced that their apartment was killing them with black mold.

  1. Anatomy, Zoology. of or relating to the hypochondrium.

noun
  1. Psychiatry. a person experiencing or subject to hypochondria.

  2. a person who worries or talks excessively about their health.

Origin of hypochondriac

1
First recorded in 1570–80; from New Latin hypochondriacus, from Greek hypochondriakós “affected in the upper abdomen”; See hypochondria, -ac

word story For hypochondriac

Hypochondriac comes ultimately from the Greek word hypokhondria, which literally means “under the cartilage (of the breastbone).” In the late 16th century, when hypochondriac first entered the English language, it referred to the upper abdomen.
The upper abdomen, it turns out, was thought to be the seat of melancholy at a time when the now-outdated medical theory of the four humors (blood, phlegm, yellow bile [choler], and black bile [melancholy]) was accepted as a basis for legitimate health practice. In the 17th century, hypochondriac referred to people who suffered from “depression and melancholy without cause,” though we might suppose from the name of this malady that many depressed patients complained of abdominal pains, which otherwise went undiagnosed. “Vapors,” another archaic disorder connected to the upper abdomen, was used as a euphemism for PMS in a time when such things were not discussed in polite conversation. Because doctors were male at this time, “women’s problems” were largely written off as fits of hysteria (another obsolete medical term of Greek origin, from the word for womb ).
It wasn’t until the 19th century that hypochondriac described someone who suffered “illness without a specific cause.” This sense is still widely used.

Other words from hypochondriac

  • hy·po·chon·dri·a·cal·ly, adverb

Words Nearby hypochondriac

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

How to use hypochondriac in a sentence

  • He is a hypochondriac now and would keep a close watch on his heir's health and habits; you may be sure of that.

    Ancestors | Gertrude Atherton
  • I've met him; he's a bad-tempered hypochondriac, a cynic at heart, and a man whose word is never doubted.

    In Search of the Unknown | Robert W. Chambers
  • Many a hypochondriac had laughed immoderately at the ludicrous exercises of Crummles and the infant phenomenon!

    The Broken Sword | Dennison Worthington
  • Hypochondriacs of any sort are a nuisance both to themselves and other people, but none more so than the spiritual hypochondriac.

  • He chiefly complained of great straitness and pain in the hypochondriac region, very short breath, swelled legs, want of appetite.

British Dictionary definitions for hypochondriac

hypochondriac

/ (ˌhaɪpəˈkɒndrɪˌæk) /


noun
  1. a person suffering from hypochondria

adjectiveAlso: hypochondriacal (ˌhaɪpəkɒnˈdraɪəkəl)
  1. relating to or suffering from hypochondria

  2. anatomy of or relating to the hypochondrium

Derived forms of hypochondriac

  • hypochondriacally, adverb

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

Cultural definitions for hypochondriac

hypochondriac

[ (heye-puh-kon-dree-ak) ]


A person who constantly believes he or she is ill or about to become ill.

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.