symptom Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun (medicine) any sensation or change in bodily function that is experienced by a patient and is associated with a particular disease
  2. noun anything that accompanies X and is regarded as an indication of X's existence

WordNet

Symp"tom noun
Etymology
F. symptôme, Gr. anything that has befallen one, a chance, causality, symptom, fr. to fall together; with + to fall; akin to Skr. pat to fly, to fall. See Syn-, and cf. Asymptote, Feather.
Definitions
  1. (Med.) Any affection which accompanies disease; a perceptible change in the body or its functions, which indicates disease, or the kind or phases of disease; as, the causes of disease often lie beyond our sight, but we learn their nature by the symptoms exhibited.
    Like the sick man, we are expiring with all sorts of good symptoms. Swift.
  2. A sign or token; that which indicates the existence of something else; as, corruption in elections is a symptom of the decay of public virtue. Syn. -- Mark; note; sign; token; indication.

Webster 1913