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A constitution or condition of the body which makes the tissues react in special ways to certain extrinsic stimuli and thus tends to make the individual more than usually susceptible to certain diseases.

A condition predisposed to a certain disease.

A congenital predisposition to some class of diseases or type of development.

from ('to place,') 'I dispose.' Disposition, constitution, affection of the body; predisposition to certain diseases rather than to others; - (F.) Imminence morbide. The principal diatheses, mentioned by authors, are the cancerous, scrofulous, scorbutic, rheumatic, gouty and calculous.

Predisposition to a disease.

A congenital or acquired condition of body predisposing to some particular constitutional disease or to certain local manifestations of disease. A term at present but little used.

n. [Greek] Bodily condition which predisposes to a particular disease; habit of body.