Meanings
- uncountablemedicinePupils which narrow to track an object as it approaches the face, but which will not narrow in reaction to increased light ("accommodating, but not reactive"); a symptom of the neurosyphilis stage syphilis infection.
Synonyms: whore's eyes
Synonyms & antonyms
nounPupils which narrow to track an object as it approaches the face, but which will not narrow in reaction to increased light ("accommodating, but not reactive"); a symptom of the neurosyphilis stage syphilis infection.
Origin
Named after Douglas Argyll Robertson (1837–1909), a Scottish ophthalmologist and surgeon, who described the condition in the mid-1860s in the context of neurosyphilis.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Argyll Robertson pupils. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Argyll%20Robertson%20pupils
“Argyll Robertson pupils.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Argyll%20Robertson%20pupils. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Argyll Robertson pupils,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Argyll%20Robertson%20pupils.
Source: Argyll Robertson pupils on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.