Meanings
noundementia (usually uncountable, plural dementias or dementiae)
plural dementias · plural dementiae
- uncountableusuallymedicineA progressive decline in cognitive function due to damage or disease in the brain beyond what might be expected from normal aging. Areas particularly affected include memory, attention, judgement, language and problem solving.
In recent years some clinical trials involving potential dementia drugs have had disappointing setbacks.
2018 January 18, Jürgen Götz, “Why it’s so hard to treat dementia”, in CNN1 more example
Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems— […]. Such a slow-release device containing angiogenic factors could be placed on the pia mater covering the cerebral cortex and tested in persons with senile dementia in long term studies.
2013 May-June, Charles T. Ambrose, “Alzheimer’s Disease”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 200
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*de
- Proto-Indo-European*déh₁
- Proto-Italic*dē
- Latindē
- Latindē-
- Proto-Indo-European*men-
- Proto-Indo-European*méntis
- Proto-Italic*mentis
- Latinmēns
- Latindēment-
- Latindēmentia
- Englishdementia
Borrowed from Latin dēmentia.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic خَرَف
- خَرَف (ḵaraf)progressive decline in cognitive function
Bulgarian деме́нция, слабоу́мие
- деме́нция (deméncija)progressive decline in cognitive function
- слабоу́мие (slaboúmie)madness or insanity
Catalan demència
- demènciaprogressive decline in cognitive function
Chinese Mandarin 癡呆 /痴呆, 失智症
- 癡呆 /痴呆 (chīdāi)progressive decline in cognitive function
- 失智症 (shīzhìzhèng)progressive decline in cognitive function
- 瘋病 /疯病 (fēngbìng)madness or insanity
Czech demence
- demenceprogressive decline in cognitive function
Danish demens
- demensprogressive decline in cognitive function
Dutch dementie
- dementieprogressive decline in cognitive function
Esperanto demenco, demenco
- demencoprogressive decline in cognitive function
- demencomadness or insanity
Finnish dementia
- dementiaprogressive decline in cognitive function
French démence, démence
- démenceprogressive decline in cognitive function
- démencemadness or insanity
German Demenz
- Demenzprogressive decline in cognitive function
Greek άνοια, άνοια
- άνοια (ánoia)progressive decline in cognitive function
- άνοια (ánoia)madness or insanity
Hindi मनोभ्रंश
- मनोभ्रंश (manobhrañś)progressive decline in cognitive function
Hungarian elbutulás, demencia
- elbutulásprogressive decline in cognitive function
- demenciaprogressive decline in cognitive function
- ostobaságmadness or insanity
- demenciamadness or insanity
- elmezavarmadness or insanity
- elmebajmadness or insanity
Icelandic heilabilun
- heilabilunprogressive decline in cognitive function
Irish néaltrú
- néaltrúprogressive decline in cognitive function
Italian demenza
- demenzaprogressive decline in cognitive function
Japanese 認知症
- 認知症 (ninchishō)progressive decline in cognitive function
Korean 치매
- 치매 (chimae)progressive decline in cognitive function
Lithuanian silpnaprotystė, demencija
- silpnaprotystėprogressive decline in cognitive function
- demencijamadness or insanity
Māori mate wareware, mate korongenge
- mate warewareprogressive decline in cognitive function
- mate korongengeprogressive decline in cognitive function
Persian زوال عقل, دمانس
- زوال عقل (zavâl-e 'aql)progressive decline in cognitive function
- دمانس (demâns)progressive decline in cognitive function
Polish demencja, otępienie
- demencjaprogressive decline in cognitive function
- otępienieprogressive decline in cognitive function
Portuguese demência, demência
- demênciaprogressive decline in cognitive function
- demênciamadness or insanity
- insanidademadness or insanity
- loucuramadness or insanity
Russian деме́нция, слабоу́мие
- деме́нция (deméncija)progressive decline in cognitive function
- слабоу́мие (slaboúmije)progressive decline in cognitive function
- слабоу́мие (slaboúmije)madness or insanity
Spanish demencia, demencia
- demenciaprogressive decline in cognitive function
- demenciamadness or insanity
- locuramadness or insanity
Swedish demens
- demensprogressive decline in cognitive function
Turkish demans
- demansprogressive decline in cognitive function
Ukrainian деме́нція, слабоу́мство
- деме́нція (deméncija)progressive decline in cognitive function
- слабоу́мство (slaboúmstvo)progressive decline in cognitive function
Vietnamese suy giảm trí nhớ, chứng mất trí
- suy giảm trí nhớprogressive decline in cognitive function
- chứng mất tríprogressive decline in cognitive function
Welsh gorffwylltra
- gorffwylltraprogressive decline in cognitive function
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with dementia
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
dementia. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dementia
MLA
“dementia.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dementia. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dementia,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dementia.
Source: dementia on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.