''sclerosis'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260917112150-00-⌔

sclerosis - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

sclerosis (countable and uncountable, plural scleroses)

• (pathology) The abnormal hardening of body tissues, such as an artery; the appearance of hardenings, indurations, lesions, nodules.
  • ✤ Synonyms: hardening, fibrosis (in some contexts), induration
  • ✤ The “Euphoria” and “Grey’s Anatomy” actor announced on Thursday that he has been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.¹
• Inability to create change or excessive resistance to change.
  • ✤ Suppressing dissent dooms the society to sclerosis, decline and collapse.²

Etymology

From Ancient Greek σκλήρωσις (sklḗrōsis, “hardening”), from σκληρόω (sklēróō, “to harden”), from σκληρός (sklērós, “hard”); by surface analysis, sclero- +‎ -osis.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /skləˈɹəʊ.sɪs/
• (General American, Canada) IPA: /skləˈɹoʊ.sɪs/
  • Audio (Milwaukee, Wisconsin): 🔊
• (Australia) IPA: /skləˈɹəʉ.sɪs/
• (New Zealand) IPA: /skləˈɹɐʉ.səs/
• Hyphenation: scle‧ro‧sis
• Rhymes: -əʊsɪs

Printed 2026-09-17.

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Footnotes

1. 2025 April 10, Dan Heching, “Eric Dane shares that he has been diagnosed with ALS”, in CNN ‎${}^{[1]}$: ↩

2. 2019 December 6, Charles Hugh Smith, Suppressing Dissent Guarantees Disorder and Collapse ‎${}^{[2]}$: ↩