Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Characterized by periods of diminished severity: Used primarily in medical contexts to describe a disease, especially a fever, whose symptoms temporarily lessen but do not fully disappear between periods of intensity.

Usage

• The term remittent is almost exclusively used as a medical adjective to describe the pattern of a disease's symptoms, most commonly a fever. It indicates that the severity of the symptoms fluctuates, with noticeable abatements followed by returns of intensity. This is distinct from an fever, which has periods where the fever disappears completely.

Examples

• Adjective:
  • The patient was diagnosed with a remittent fever, her temperature rising and falling but never returning to normal.
  • Malaria can sometimes present as a remittent rather than an intermittent fever.

Advanced Usage

• "Remittent" vs. "Intermittent": A key distinction in medical terminology. A condition shows fluctuations in severity, while an one has complete cessations.
  • The remittent nature of the illness made it difficult to pinpoint when the patient was truly recovering.

Variants and Related Words

• Remittence (n, rare): The state or quality of being remittent; a temporary abatement.
• Remit (v): While a different word, it shares the Latin root (to send back, slacken). Its meaning "to diminish or abate" is related conceptually.

Synonyms

• Fluctuating: Varying irregularly.
• Abating: Becoming less intense. (Note: This describes the diminishing phase, not the overall pattern.)

Antonyms

• Continuous: Uninterrupted in time.
• Intermittent: Stopping and starting at intervals (with complete stops).
• Constant: Remaining the same.

Related Phrases/Idioms

• Remittent fever: The most common collocation, a specific medical term for a fever pattern.
  • Typhoid fever is a classic example of a remittent fever.

Adjective

1. (of a disease) characterized by periods of diminished severity
   • a remittent fever