Word
obesity
Phoneticsobe·si·ty
US/əˈbisəti/
UK/əʊbˈiːsətˌi/
Definition
n. the condition of being very overweight in a way that is not healthy. It usually means having too much body fat for your height.
n. a medical condition characterized by the excessive accumulation and storage of fat in the body. Often defined clinically by a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher.
Examples
“Doctors are worried about the rise of childhood obesity.”
“Public health campaigns often focus on diet and exercise to help reduce the rates of obesity in the community.”
“While genetic factors play a significant role in individual cases, the global rise in obesity is largely attributed to sedentary lifestyles and the high availability of processed foods.”
Examples
simple
“Doctors are worried about the rise of childhood obesity.”
contextual
“Public health campaigns often focus on diet and exercise to help reduce the rates of obesity in the community.”
complex
“While genetic factors play a significant role in individual cases, the global rise in obesity is largely attributed to sedentary lifestyles and the high availability of processed foods.”
Usage
Uncountable in its general medical sense; occasionally used as a countable noun in clinical literature when referring to different types or classifications of the condition.
Real-World Examples
Common in science writing
“The discovery helps explain why very different obesity drugs can achieve similar results and suggests that carefully combining GIP-targeting treatments with GLP-1 drugs like those related to Wegovy and Ozempic could produce stronger effects.” “Obesity rates have doubled in England since 1993 - what's going on?” Etymology
From French obésité, from Latin obēsitās, from obēsus (“fat”). By surface analysis, obese + -ity.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Domains
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/obesity