sclerosis
/sklɪəˈrəʊsɪs/noun
mass noun
1- Medicine abnormal hardening of body tissue【医】硬化, 硬化症。
1.1
- （全称multiple sclerosis）a chronic, typically progressive disease involving damage to the sheaths of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, whose symptoms may include numbness, impairment of speech and of muscular coordination, blurred vision, and severe fatigue多发性硬化。亦称DISSEMINATED SCLEROSIS.
1.2
- figurative excessive resistance to change〈喻〉僵化：
the challenge was to avoid institutional sclerosis.
这一挑战是要避免制度僵化。
词源
late Middle English (originally denoting a hard external tumour)：via medieval Latin from Greek sklērōsis, from sklēroun 'harden'.