A.Word.A.Day--hypochondriac

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msesheta

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Jan 10, 2012, 9:56:48 AM1/10/12
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 Wordsmith.org The Magic of Words 

Jan 10, 2012
This week's theme
Words coined using combining forms

This week's words
duopsony
hypochondriac
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A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg

hypochondriac

PRONUNCIATION:
(hy-puh-KON-dree-ak)

MEANING:
noun: One who is excessively and chronically preoccupied with imaginary or innocuous symptoms as indicators of some serious disease.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek hypochondrios (abdomen, which was believed to be the seat of melancholy), from hypo- (under) + khondros (cartilage [of the breastbone]). Earliest documented use: 1599.

USAGE:
"'Gadhafi was described as a hypochondriac who insisted that all examinations and procedures be filmed and then spent hours reviewing them with physicians whom he trusted,' the ambassador reported."
Joshua Norman; U.S. Envoy to Libya Wikileaks' First Casualty?; CBS News (New York); Jan 5, 2011.

Explore "hypochondriac" in the Visual Thesaurus.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Remorse is a violent dyspepsia of the mind. -Ogden Nash, poet (1902-1971)


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