Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The medical condition of being a dwarf.
  • noun The condition of being a dwarf animal or plant.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The state of being a dwarf or dwarfed; dwarfishness.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The condition of being a dwarf.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a genetic abnormality resulting in short stature

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

dwarf +‎ -ism

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Examples

  • He says my dwarfism is a hindrance and that I should concentrate on my skool work.

    Archive 2007-07-01 2007

  • He was born with achondroplasia, the most common condition that results in dwarfism, and was the only member of his family who was not of average height.

    Paul S. Miller, 49, disability-rights expert fought employment discrimination T. Rees Shapiro 2010

  • As it happens, psychogenic dwarfism is a medical condition whose sufferers tend to be extraodinarily small and underdeveloped for their age, a condition brought on by circumstances of extreme abuse and maltreatment.

    assorted slices of life. « Love | Peace | Ohana 2008

  • He added that while this standard textbook version of stressed dwarfism is rare, there is nevertheless "major league psychopathology" throughout society, retarding human growth.

    - Boing Boing 2006

  • His dwarfism is a disability only in how other people see him, and possibly in how a lifetime of this has shaped his character.

    Archive 2006-08-01 Kay Olson 2006

  • His dwarfism is a disability only in how other people see him, and possibly in how a lifetime of this has shaped his character.

    Movie review: The Station Agent Kay Olson 2006

  • DON VANCE, LEVY FAMILY FRIEND: Well, I think that Gary Condit was probably born with a very severe form of dwarfism, that is moral dwarfism.

    CNN Transcript Aug 6, 2001 2001

  • She put Egg and me together, where Franny and Lilly had been, and she gave Lilly my old room and Egg's adjoining room — as if, illogically, Lilly's so-called dwarfism needed to be accommodated not only with privacy but with a large space.

    The Hotel New Hampshire Irving, John, 1942- 1981

  • Short stature below three standard deviations from the mean in individuals without a medical condition such as dwarfism, growth hormone deficiency etc., is considered constitutional short stature.

    Dr. Rock Positano: Courting Controversy: Cosmetic Limb Lengthening Surgery 2008

  • The infinitesimally small number of people who are true, biological hermaphrodites and the nearly as small number of people whose genotype does not match their phenotype should be treated with compassion, but in such a way that encourages them to fit into normal society -- just as other people with unusual challenges such as dwarfism and gigantism do.

    Today's Battle Zoe Brain 2008

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