WOTW: symptom
| - Tim Lake |
“Symptom” is a noun with only one meaning. It is a really useful word when you are sick. Let’s have a look.
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The noun “symptom” means an obvious physical or mental sign that a person has disease or illness.
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+ Could you tell me what symptoms you are experiencing?
+ She had all the symptoms of the flu.
+ Heavy drinking can be mistaken for a symptom of depression, rather than its cause.
+ Sometimes Doctors treat the symptom but not the patient.
+ He had no obvious symptoms.
+ The main symptom is short-term memory loss.
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The noun “symptom” is sometimes used in non-medical conversations. It means a sign of a problem.
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+ The government leaks were a symptom of bigger problems.
+ He is a symptom of the country’s problems, not the cause.
+ This is a further shameful symptom of the failure of the company to innovate.
+ Some writers have seen this as a symptom of Mozart's unhappiness with his marriage.
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The pronunciation is / ˈsɪm(p)təm /. In British English the “p” is often not pronounced.
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This word is in the New General Service List, a list of the 3,000 most common words in English communication. You can get the full list on our website by clicking here.
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この単語は、英語で最もよく使われる3,000の単語のリストであるNew General Service Listからのものです。完全なリストはこちらから。
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