pathologicaladj.n.
/ˌpaθəˈlɒdʒᵻkl/, U.S. /ˌpæθəˈlɑdʒək(ə)l/ A. adj.† 2. Relating to the feelings or emotions. Obsolete.
1.
a. Relating to or dealing with disease; of or relating to the science of pathology.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > study of disease > [adjective]
pathological1634
pathologic1656
1634 T. Whitaker Disc. Waters (title page) A discovrse of waters: their qualities, and effects diæteticall, pathologicall, and pharmacaitical [sic].
1663 R. Boyle Some Considerations Usefulnesse Exper. Nat. Philos. ii. ii. 46 The..liberty of making those Experiments in live Beasts..may enable a Zoologist..to determine divers Pathologicall difficulties.
1688 R. Boyle Disquis. Final Causes iv. 159 The Physiological and Pathological parts of Physick.
1809 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 21 297 He..has given up all hopes of any thing important being discovered..from pathological anatomy.
1821 J. Forbes tr. R. T. H. Laennec Treat. Dis. Chest i. i. ix. 117 These various productions..have..been noticed by almost every pathological anatomist since the sixteenth century.
1879 H. Calderwood Relations Mind & Brain iv. 80 The interest in it was stimulated and guided by pathological observations.
1921 R. S. Woodworth Psychol. (1922) i. 16 The pathological method..traces the decay or demoralization of mental life instead of its growth.
1968 New Eng. Jrnl. Med. 22 Feb. 416/2 The pathological diagnosis was ‘hypercholesterolemic xanthomatosis’.
1992 New Scientist 22 Feb. 11/3 Professor of pathological biochemistry at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary.
b. That is or may be the subject of pathology; caused by disease, either physical or mental; characteristic of disease, of the nature of disease.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > [adjective]
physiopathic1800
pathological1845
physiopathological1847
pathologic1852
the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > [adjective] > study of
pathological1845
psychiatric1847
psychopathological1884
psychopathologic1891
1845–6 G. E. Day tr. J. F. Simon Animal Chem. I. 166 In certain pathological states [Ger. in gewissen (pathologischen) Fällen] of the system.
1858 H. T. Buckle Hist. Civilisation Eng. (1869) II. vii. 381 The laws of their normal and pathological development.
1894 H. Drummond Lowell Lect. Ascent of Man 122 Conditions which are pathological in one animal are natural in others.
1902 W. James Varieties Relig. Experience vi. 145 One can distinguish many kinds of pathological depression.
1942 Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. July 4 Certain hysterical and pathological eye conditions.
1993 Equus July 42/3 Severe pathological hoof changes in horses and other ungulates.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > [adjective]
affectivec1443
pathetical1603
affectual1604
pectorala1631
pathetic1649
affectuous1664
sentimental1765
pathological1796
pathematic1822
emotive1830
emotional1831
affectional1844
spiritual1848
1796 F. A. Nitsch Gen. View Kant's Princ. conc. Man 195 The pathological interest aims at the agreeable and pleasing consequences of an action.
1798 A. F. M. Willich Elements Crit. Philos. 101 A rational observance of pathological laws.
1894 J. R. Illingworth Personality iv. 105 It is not the physical effect of the desire, the mere pathological feeling, but the metaphysical action of the mental image that ultimately determines my action.
3. Mathematics. Of a function or other mathematical object: grossly abnormal in properties or behaviour; not exhibiting certain properties common to almost all other examples of its class.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > mathematics > [adjective] > abnormal in properties or behaviour
badly behaved1883
pathological1939
1939 I. S. Sokolnikoff Adv. Calculus iv. 105 Such pathological behavior of continuous functions led to a careful inquiry into the meaning of such geometrical concepts as the area under a curve.
1946 H. Jeffreys & B. S. Jeffreys Methods Math. Physics i. 17 We can speak of a function of x that is equal to 1 if x is rational but to 0 if x is irrational. Such a function would be fairly regarded by a physicist as pathological, and he is interested in a much narrower class of functions, roughly speaking such as can be represented by graphs.
1971 D. W. Sciama Mod. Cosmol. viii. 113 In this case the geometry of space is said to be hyperbolic... The volume of the space is infinite except in pathological cases that need not concern us.
1990 Proc. London Math. Soc. 60 321 We give applications of approximation theorems to show the existence of certain functions exhibiting pathological behaviour.
4. colloquial. (Of a person) exhibiting a quality or trait to a degree considered extreme or psychologically unhealthy; (of a quality) possessed or manifested to such a degree.
ΚΠ
1949 Sat. Rev. Lit. (U.S.) 25 June 11/1 For Ford, you see, was what those who were not charmed by him insisted upon describing as a pathological liar.
1951 M. Lowry Let. 25 Aug. (1967) 256 A himself is an almost pathological liar.
1995 GQ Jan. 148/1 Peers and friends alike still deride my pathological fondness for constructing polystyrene Mustangs and MiGs.
1999 N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 12 Dec. 6/4 Her husband's pathological womanizing.
B. n.
U.S. A person with a mental disorder or a pathological compulsion.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > mentally ill person > [noun]
neuropath1887
ding-dong1929
pathological1931
nutcake1953
nut job1959
sicknik1959
nutball1968
sickie1973
sicko1977
wackadoo1979
wackadoodle1991
1931 F. R. Barry Relevance of Christianity vii. 189 Plenty of pathologicals who torment themselves..by worrying over imaginary sins.
1969 Word 1967 23 544 The first months were spent in personally filming and recording..singers, infants, neonates, paranates..and various pathologicals.
1983 M. Weinberg Search for Quality iv. 95 In this schema, educators seem to appraise the noble poor and copers positively and pathologicals and oppressed negatively.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1634