alzheimer

alzheimer — adjective

  • alzheimerpositive
  • more alzheimercomparative
  • most alzheimersuperlative

1. describing something connected with Alzheimer's disease, a progressive brain con

1.adjectiveC1
Definition

describing something connected with Alzheimer's disease, a progressive brain condition that mainly affects older people, causing them to gradually lose their memory, ability to think clearly, and capacity to care for themselves.

Example

The hospital has a special ward for Alzheimer patients requiring full-time care.

collocation: Alzheimer patient(s)

Dr. Lakshmi's team published important Alzheimer research in a medical journal last month.

collocation: Alzheimer research

Common collocations
  • Alzheimer patient
  • Alzheimer research
  • Alzheimer care
  • Alzheimer treatment
  • Alzheimer medication
  • Alzheimer unit
  • Alzheimer ward
  • Alzheimer symptom
Synonyms

Grammar Patterns

alzheimer + noun (patient / research / care)

Usage Note

Always placed before a noun. This adjective is a shortened form of the noun phrase 'Alzheimer's disease' and is used mainly in medical, caregiving, and scientific contexts. It does not have comparative or superlative forms.

Common Mistakes

She was diagnosed with Alzheimer.
She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
The adjective 'Alzheimer' must modify a following noun; for the disease name itself, use 'Alzheimer's disease'.

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

All three terms relate to health conditions in older adults, but they differ in scope. 'Alzheimer' refers specifically to one named disease. 'Dementia-related' covers a broader category of brain disorders that affect memory and thinking, of which Alzheimer's is the most common type. 'Cognitive' is wider still — it applies to any mental process (memory, reasoning, attention), not just disease contexts. 'Geriatric' relates to old-age medicine generally, not specifically to brain disorders. For example: 'The hospital runs Alzheimer trials for patients with early-stage memory loss,' but 'The geriatric ward treats elderly patients with many different conditions, including dementia-related illnesses.'

dementia-relatedcognitive ↗geriatric ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Etymology

GermanEnglish

Named after Dr. Alois Alzheimer (1864–1915), the German psychiatrist and neuropathologist who first described the distinctive brain changes of the disease in a patient named Auguste Deter in 1906. The adjective 'Alzheimer' (short for 'Alzheimer's disease + adjective suffix') came into medical English usage in the early 1900s and is now the standard attributive form in clinical and research contexts.