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Pathology vs Disorder - What's the difference?

pathology | disorder |

In medicine|lang=en terms the difference between pathology and disorder

is that pathology is (medicine) the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the nature of disease and its causes, processes, development, and consequences while disorder is (medicine) a physical or psychical malfunction.

As nouns the difference between pathology and disorder

is that pathology is (medicine) the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the nature of disease and its causes, processes, development, and consequences while disorder is absence of order; state of not being arranged in an orderly manner.

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).

    disorder

    English

    Alternative forms

    * disordre (obsolete)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Absence of order; state of not being arranged in an orderly manner.
    • After playing the children left the room in disorder .
  • A disturbance of civic peace or of public order.
    • The class was thrown into disorder when the teacher left the room
    The army tried to prevent disorder when claims the elections had been rigged grew stronger.
  • (medicine) A physical or psychical malfunction.
    • Bulimia is an eating disorder .

    Synonyms

    * (absence of order) chaos, entropy; see also * (disturbance of civic peace) See also

    Derived terms

    * autism spectrum disorder * borderline personality disorder * disordely * eating disorder * seasonal affective disorder * spectrum disorder