Definition

1. Noun:
   • A medical condition characterized by the widening and thickening of the ends of the fingers and toes, often with a loss of the normal angle between the nail and the nail bed: This condition is not a disease itself but a symptom, typically associated with chronic low oxygen levels in the blood due to heart or lung diseases.

Usage

• Noun:
  • Clubbing is a significant clinical sign that a doctor looks for during a physical examination.
  • The presence of clubbing often prompts further investigation into the patient's cardiopulmonary health.

Examples

• Noun:
  • The patient's clubbing was a clear indicator of his underlying lung disease.
  • Doctors noted digital clubbing during the examination, which suggested a possible heart condition.

Advanced Usage

• "to have clubbing": to exhibit the symptom of clubbing.
  • The patient was found to have clubbing of the fingers.

Variants and Related Words

• Club (verb): In a completely different and unrelated context, "to club" means to hit with a heavy object or to gather for a social purpose. This is a separate word and not a variant of the medical noun "clubbing."
• Clubbed (adjective): Describing fingers or toes affected by clubbing.
  • The physician documented the patient's clubbed fingers.

Synonyms

• Digital clubbing: The full medical term for the condition.
• Hippocratic fingers: An older, historical term for the same condition.

Notes

• The word "clubbing" in this medical sense is distinct from the more common noun "clubbing" which refers to the activity of going to nightclubs. They are homographs (same spelling, different meaning). This entry is solely for the medical term.

Noun

1. a condition in which the ends of toes and fingers become wide and thick; a symptom of heart or lung disease