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Mechanism vs Pathology - What's the difference?

mechanism | pathology |

As nouns the difference between mechanism and pathology

is that mechanism is within a machine or machinery; any mechanical means for the conversion or control of motion, or the transmission or control of power while pathology is (medicine) the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the nature of disease and its causes, processes, development, and consequences.

mechanism

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • Within a machine or machinery; any mechanical means for the conversion or control of motion, or the transmission or control of power.
  • Any combination of cams, gears, links, belts, chains and logical mechanical elements.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2012-03
    • , author=(Henry Petroski) , title=Opening Doors , volume=100, issue=2, page=112-3 , magazine= citation , passage=A doorknob of whatever roundish shape is effectively a continuum of levers, with the axis of the latching mechanism —known as the spindle—being the fulcrum about which the turning takes place.}}
  • A group of objects or parts that interact together. (as in Political machine )
  • A mental, physical or chemical process.
  • (philosophy) A theory that all natural phenomena can be explained by physical causes.

    • Derived terms

    * defense mechanism * reaction mechanism

    pathology

    English

    Noun

    (pathologies)
  • (medicine) The branch of medicine concerned with the study of the nature of disease and its causes, processes, development, and consequences.
  • The medical specialty that provides microscopy and other laboratory services (e.g., cytology, histology) to clinicians.
    • The surgeon sent a specimen of the cyst to the pathology department for staining and analysis to determine its histologic subtype.
  • Pathosis: any deviation from a healthy or normal structure or function; abnormality; illness or malformation.

    • Derived terms

    * pathologist * anatomical pathology * chemical pathology * cytopathology * experimental pathology * forensic pathology * histopathology * plant pathology * psychopathology

    Related terms

    * pathologic * pathological * pathobiology * pathophysiology

    Usage notes

    * Some house style guides for medical publications avoid the "illness" sense of pathology'' (disease, state of ill health) and replace it with ''pathosis''. The rationale is that the ''-ology'' form should be reserved for the "study of disease" sense and for the medical specialty that provides microscopy and other laboratory services (e.g., cytology, histology) to clinicians. This rationale drives similar usage preferences about ''etiology'' ("cause" sense versus "study of causes" sense), ''methodology'' ("methods" sense versus "study of methods" sense), and other ''-ology'' words. Not all such , because most physicians don't do so in their own speech (and the context makes clear the sense intended). Another limitation is that ''pathology'' meaning "illness" has an adjectival form (''pathologic''), but the corresponding adjectival form of ''pathosis'' (''pathotic'') is idiomatically missing from English (defective declension), so ''pathologic'' is obligate for both senses ("diseased" and "related to the study of disease"); this likely helps keep the "illness" sense of ''pathology'' in natural use (as the readily retrieved noun counterpart to ''pathologic in the "diseased" sense).