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Medicine vocabulary · Symptoms and Signs

Fatigue

Meaning in medicine, with examples

/fəˈtiːɡ/nounCommon term

In medicine, fatigue means: Extreme tiredness or lack of energy that does not go away with normal rest, often a symptom of illness or of treatment.

In Turkish: yorgunluk, halsizlik, bitkinlik

How it is used

A formal word used in notes and research; patients usually say 'tired', 'exhausted' or 'no energy'. It is common in anemia, thyroid disease, depression and cancer, and after viral infections.

Example sentences

  1. Fatigue is the symptom she finds hardest during chemotherapy.

  2. He's had three months of fatigue and weight loss, so we're checking his bloods.

Common collocations

  • chronic fatigue
  • fatigue and weight loss
  • severe fatigue
  • cancer-related fatigue
  • symptomSomething a patient feels and reports, such as pain, tiredness or nausea, that may show they have an illness. Doctors learn about it by asking, not by measuring.
  • complete blood countA common blood test that measures the red cells, white cells, hemoglobin and platelets in a blood sample.
  • chronicLasting a long time, usually more than three months, or coming back again and again; used for diseases that are controlled rather than cured.
  • complain ofTo tell a doctor or nurse that you have a particular symptom, such as pain or tiredness.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Symptoms and Signs

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not medical advice.