atherosclerosis
/ˌæθɚoʊskləˈɹoʊsəs/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.78 in modern English
20
Scrabble Score
15
Letters
6
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The clogging or hardening of arteries or blood vessels caused by plaques (accumulations of fatty deposits, usually cholesterol).
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "Near-synonym: ASCVD"
- "Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism."
Etymology
From athero- + sclerosis.