diagnose
verbUK /ˈdʌɪ.əɡˌnəʊz/ · US /ˈdaɪ.əɡˌnoʊs/
Etymology Back-formation from diagnosis. Compare also sclerose (verb).
1
Medicine, Sciences To determine which disease is causing a sick person's signs and symptoms; to find the diagnosis.
2
Broadly To determine the cause of a problem.
- But in the early days of the scheme the new machines created some problems for the fitters, who found them over-complex and their faults hard to diagnose after many years' experience of small, simple steam locomotives.1962 October, M. J. Wilson, “Three years of dieselisation at Devons Road depot”, in Modern Railways, pages 262, 264:
- Mechanics use this extremely portable tool to diagnose engine faults, clear fault codes, and export data.2002, John J. Schiavone, Training for On-board Bus Electronics, page 19:
- Derived terms
- diagnosability, diagnosable, diagnosee, misdiagnose, nondiagnosed, overdiagnose, prediagnose, prediagnosed, rediagnose, retrodiagnose, self-diagnose, serodiagnose, telediagnose, underdiagnose, underdiagnosed, undiagnose, undiagnosed