Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun Pathology.
- a common form of dementia, believed to be caused by changes in the brain, usually beginning in late middle age, characterized by memory lapses, confusion, emotional instability, and progressive loss of mental ability.
noun
- a disorder of the brain resulting in a progressive decline in intellectual and physical abilities and eventual dementiaOften shortened to: Alzheimer’s
(senium præcox), 1912, title of article by S.C. Fuller published in “Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases;” named for German neurologist Alois Alzheimer (1864-1915). The name was not common before 1970s; shortened form Alzheimer’s first recorded 1954. The surname is from the place name Alzheim, literally “Old Hamlet.”
n.
- A degenerative disease of the brain, associated with the development of abnormal tissues and protein deposits in the cerebral cortex and characterized by confusion, disorientation, memory failure, speech disturbances, and the progressive loss of mental capacity.
- A progressive, degenerative disease of the brain, commonly affecting the elderly, and associated with the development of amyloid plaques in the cerebral cortex. It is characterized by confusion, disorientation, memory failure, speech disturbances, and eventual dementia. The cause is unknown. Alzheimer’s disease is named for its identifier, German psychiatrist Alois Alzheimer (1864-1915).
A disease in which mental capacity decreases because of the breakdown of brain cells.