autism
noun
Simple meaning
A pervasive neurological condition that is observable in early childhood and persists throughout the lifespan, characterised by atypical communication patterns, delayed language development.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
awtihzuhmSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɔtɪzəm
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
clinical psychology
A pervasive neurological condition that is observable in early childhood and persists throughout the lifespan, characterised by atypical communication patterns (e.g., differences in body language or eye contact), delayed language development, and sensory processing sensitivities.
loosely
Synonym of autism spectrum; a range of disorders.
Internet slangoffensivederogatory or self-deprecatory
Abnormal and unhealthy focus or persistence, stereotypically coupled with low self-awareness and unhealthy hatred of opposition or criticism.
psychiatry
An abnormal absorption with the self; marked by communication disorders and short attention span and inability to treat others as people
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Varies by meaning
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (clinical psychology) A pervasive neurological condition that is observable in early childhood and persists throughout the lifespan, characterised by atypical communication patterns (e.g., differences in body language or eye contact), delayed language development, and sensory processing sensitivities.
Used this way, autism is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a clinical use: it belongs to medical description, where it is factual rather than emotive.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Medicine/healthcare
- Science
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use autism
- “The center provides support for children with autism.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A rare but serious syndrome of childhood characterized by withdrawal and lack of social responsiveness or interest in others and serious linguistic deficits.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
- developmentaladjective
- diagnosticadjective
- schizophrenianoun
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.