Meanings
plural tabes dorsales
- countableuncountablemedicinetabes of the back; a degeneration of the sensory neurons of the spinal cord carrying afferent information.
Synonyms: locomotor ataxia
- countableoftenuncountablemore specificallyneurosyphilis in the form of such degeneration.
Malcolm X: the death of terminal fibrillation, as elegant as the trembling of hands in tabes dorsalis [...].
1970, JG Ballard, The Atrocity Exhibition1 more example
[I told her] of patients with neurosyphilis, tabes dorsalis, who had similar symptoms, but confined to the legs.
1984, Oliver Sacks, “The Disembodied Lady”, chapter 3 in The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (Reset 2007), page 51
Synonyms & antonyms
nountabes of the back; a degeneration of the sensory neurons of the spinal cord carrying afferent information.
More synonyms by meaning
nounsyphilis of the spinal cord characterized by degeneration of sensory neurons and stabbing pains in the trunk and legs and unsteady gait and incontinence and impotence
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From tabes + dorsalis, "tabes of the back".
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Japanese 脊髄癆
- 脊髄癆 (sekizuirō)degeneration
Cite this entry
tabes dorsalis. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tabes%20dorsalis
“tabes dorsalis.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tabes%20dorsalis. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tabes dorsalis,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tabes%20dorsalis.
Source: tabes dorsalis on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.