Definitions for pathologicalˌpæθ əˈlɒdʒ ɪ kəl

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Random House Webster's College Dictionary

path•o•log•i•calˌpæθ əˈlɒdʒ ɪ kəl(adj.)

also path`o•log′ic

  1. of or pertaining to pathology.

    Category: Pathology

  2. caused or affected by disease.

    Category: Pathology, Psychiatry

  3. characterized by an unhealthy compulsion:

    a pathological liar.

    Category: Psychiatry

Origin of pathological:

1680–90

path`o•log′i•cal•ly(adv.)

Princeton's WordNet

  1. pathological, pathologic(adj)

    of or relating to the practice of pathology

    "pathological laboratory"

  2. pathological(adj)

    caused by or evidencing a mentally disturbed condition

    "a pathological liar"; "a pathological urge to succeed"

  3. diseased, morbid, pathologic, pathological(adj)

    caused by or altered by or manifesting disease or pathology

    "diseased tonsils"; "a morbid growth"; "pathologic tissue"; "pathological bodily processes"

Wiktionary

  1. pathological(Adjective)

    Pertaining to pathology.

  2. pathological(Adjective)

    Relating to or caused by a physical or mental disorder.

  3. pathological(Adjective)

    Having properties which are counterintuitive or difficult to handle.

  4. pathological(Adjective)

    Having properties that cause unusually bad behaviour, especially regarding correctness or performance.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Pathological(adj)

    of or pertaining to pathology

The New Hacker's Dictionary

  1. pathological

    1. [scientific computation] Used of a data set that is grossly atypical of normal expected input, esp. one that exposes a weakness or bug in whatever algorithm one is using. An algorithm that can be broken by pathological inputs may still be useful if such inputs are very unlikely to occur in practice. 2. When used of test input, implies that it was purposefully engineered as a worst case. The implication in both senses is that the data is spectacularly ill-conditioned or that someone had to explicitly set out to break the algorithm in order to come up with such a crazy example. 3. Also said of an unlikely collection of circumstances. “If the network is down and comes up halfway through the execution of that command by root, the system may just crash.” “Yes, but that's a pathological case.” Often used to dismiss the case from discussion, with the implication that the consequences are acceptable, since they will happen so infrequently (if at all) that it doesn't seem worth going to the extra trouble to handle that case (see sense 1).


Translations for pathological

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary

pathological(adjective)

the science of diseases.

Get even more translations for pathological »


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