intercurrence

A patient's recovery is complicated by an intercurrence of pneumonia.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • Intervention or interference: "intercurrence" refers to the act or instance of intervening or occurring between events, often implying an interruption or unexpected occurrence.
   • Medical context: In medicine, "intercurrence" denotes the occurrence of a disease or condition that arises during the course of another illness, often complicating the primary condition.
   • Recurrence: It can also describe something that happens repeatedly or intermittently.

Usage Examples

• General:
  • The intercurrence of a power outage during the meeting disrupted the presentation. (An unexpected event that intervened between planned activities.)
• Medical:
  • The patient's recovery was delayed due to the intercurrence of a secondary infection. (A new disease that occurred during the treatment of the original illness.)
• Recurrence:
  • The intercurrence of seasonal allergies each spring is predictable. (Repeated occurrence at intervals.)

Advanced Usage

• "intercurrence of events": the simultaneous or sequential occurrence of multiple events.
  • The intercurrence of the financial crisis and the natural disaster worsened the economic situation. (Two events happening together or in close succession.)

Variants and Related Words

• Intercurrent (adj): occurring or existing between other events or conditions.

  • The intercurrent illness complicated the patient's treatment plan. (An illness that happens during another illness.)

• Intercurrence (n): the state or quality of being intercurrent.

Synonyms

• Intervention: the act of coming between or interfering.
• Interference: the act of obstructing or disrupting.
• Interruption: a break in continuity.
• Complication: a factor that makes something more difficult (especially in medicine).

Related Idioms

• "A fly in the ointment": an unexpected problem that spoils a situation.

  • The intercurrence of the storm was a fly in the ointment for our outdoor wedding. (An unwelcome interruption.)

• "Out of the blue": happening suddenly and unexpectedly.

  • The intercurrence of the lawsuit came out of the blue. (An unforeseen event.)

Phrasal Verbs

• "Crop up": to appear or happen unexpectedly.

  • Various intercurrences cropped up during the project, delaying its completion. (Unexpected events arose.)

• "Come between": to intervene or cause a separation.

  • No intercurrence should come between their friendship. (No interfering event should disrupt it.)