cyberchondriac
/ˌsaɪbəɹˈkɑndɹiˌæk/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
29
Scrabble Score
14
Letters
5
Syllables
11
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A hypochondriac (“person with an excessive preoccupation or worry about having a serious illness”) who researches their potential medical condition on the Internet.
Example Sentences
- "Doctors are on the alert for a new kind of victim: the cyberchondriac. With so much health information now on the Internet, thousands of people are using their computers to try to match symptoms with diseases."
- "The growth of the Internet—arguably the fastest-growing new technology in history—has generated explosive growth of people who search the Web for healthcare information related to specific diseases. We call these people "cyberchondriacs." […] The diseases that generate the greatest use of the Web are depression (19 percent of cyberchondriacs), allergies or sinus (16 percent), cancer (15 percent), bipolar disorder (14 percent), arthritis or rheumatism (10 percent), high blood pressure (10 percent), migraine (9 percent), anxiety disorder (9 percent), heart disease (8 percent) and sleep disorders (8 percent)."
- "Some doctors complain that they are being plagued by a new type of hypochondriac, dubbed the cyberchondriac, a condition in which patients arrive at the surgery armed with piles of information to try to prove that they have a certain illness. A quick internet search for information on back pain illustrates the problem. Search for the word 'backache' using the Excite search engine, for example, and you are presented with a list of 2643 sites."
- "Faced with the printout-wielding patient or ‘cyberchondriac’, it is tempting to take the view that the Internet is the spawn of the Devil. However, a better strategy may be to offer more reliable Internet sites for the patient to visit; […]"
- "None of them carried news of research into his condition, but there was enough for any cyberchondriac to get his mind around."
- "Word Watch: Cyberchondriac [title] Definition: A person who's convinced he or she has a particular medical condition based on information found on the Internet."
Etymology
Etymology tree Ancient Greek κυβερνητικός (kubernētikós)bor. English cybernetic English cyber- English hypochondriac blend English cyberchondriac Blend of cyber- (prefix denoting cyberspace or the Internet, or computers more generally) + hypochondriac, equivalent to cyberchondria + -ac.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌsaɪbəɹˈkɑndɹiˌæk/
- British English: /ˌsaɪbəˈkɒndɹɪæk/