diathesis

/daɪˈæθəsɪs/
noun
  1. A tendency or condition of the body that makes it likely to develop a particular disease or disorder.
    • Her family's medical history showed a diathesis toward autoimmune conditions.
    • The doctor explained that his diathesis for allergies made springtime difficult.
    • Some people have a genetic diathesis that increases their risk of developing diabetes.
  2. In linguistics, the way in which the verb's action relates to the subject and object (e.g., active or passive voice).
    • The student studied how diathesis affects sentence structure in different languages.
    • Greek verbs have a middle diathesis that English does not use.
    • In Latin, the diathesis of a verb changes its ending to show active or passive meaning.
Antonyms
What does "diathesis" mean? | whatsthatwordmean | whatsthatwordmean