diagnose
diagnose Lexical Profile
diagnose Game Scores & Validity
• verb
To identify the nature of an illness or other medical condition by examining the symptoms and clinical signs.
"The specialist was able to diagnose the rare condition after reviewing the blood test results."
To analyze and determine the root cause or nature of a mechanical, technical, or systemic problem.
"The network engineer ran several automated scripts to diagnose the cause of the server outage."
Word Nuance & Usage
When referring to a person, the standard construction is to diagnose a patient *with* a condition (e.g., "She was diagnosed with asthma"), whereas a medical condition itself is diagnosed *in* a patient (e.g., "Asthma was diagnosed in the child").
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Formed in the mid-19th century as a back-formation from "diagnosis," which derives via Modern Latin from the Ancient Greek "diagnōsis" (a discerning or distinguishing), from "diagignōskein" (to discern or distinguish thoroughly), combining "dia-" (apart) and "gignōskein" (to know or perceive).