chorea [kuh-ree-uh, kaw-, koh-] ExamplesWord Origin noun Pathology.
- any of several diseases of the nervous system characterized by jerky, involuntary movements, chiefly of the face and extremities.
- Also called St. Vitus’s dance. such a disease occurring chiefly in children and associated with rheumatic fever.
- Veterinary Pathology. a disease of the central nervous system caused by bacterial or organic degeneration, most common in dogs following canine distemper, characterized by irregular, jerky, involuntary muscular movements.
Origin of chorea 1680–90; Greek choreía a dance, equivalent to chor(ós) chorus + -eia -y3 Related formscho·re·al, cho·re·ic, cho·re·at·ic [kawr-ee-at-ik, kohr-] /ˌkɔr iˈæt ɪk, ˌkoʊr-/, adjectivecho·re·oid [kawr-ee-oid, kohr-] /ˈkɔr iˌɔɪd, ˈkoʊr-/, adjectiveCan be confusedchorea Korea Examples from the Web for chorea Historical Examples of chorea
Sometimes he was seized by a fit of chorea, followed by deep sleep.
Gina Lombroso-Ferrero
This was one of the most severe and obstinate cases of chorea that I have ever met with.
George M. Schweig
Internally, it has been occasionally given in hooping-cough, chorea, and a few other nervous diseases.
Arnold Cooley
Every one who had seen her considered the condition as chorea.
Henry Meigne
In the opinion of many, Bergeron’s chorea is secondary to gastric disturbance.
Henry Meigne
British Dictionary definitions for chorea chorea noun
- a disorder of the central nervous system characterized by uncontrollable irregular brief jerky movementsSee Huntington’s disease, Sydenham’s chorea
Derived Formschoreal or choreic, adjectiveWord Origin for chorea C19: from New Latin, from Latin: dance, from Greek khoreia, from khoros dance; see chorus Word Origin and History for chorea n.
1806, from Modern Latin chorea Sancti Viti “St. Vitus dance” (originally a mass hysteria in 15c. Europe characterized by uncontrolled dancing); from Latin chorea “a dance,” from Greek khoreia “dance” (see chorus). Extension to the nerve disorder is from 1620s.
chorea in Medicine chorea [kô-rē′ə, kə-] n.
- Irregular, spasmodic, involuntary movements of the limbs or facial muscles.
Related formscho•re′al null adj.