attention deficit disorder

noun

: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

—abbreviation ADD

Examples of attention deficit disorder in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Low levels can cause behavioral problems, loss of IQ and attention deficit disorders. —Ken Alltucker, USA TODAY, 5 Dec. 2024

As a teenager, he was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, severe depression and bipolar disorder. —Natalie Eilbert, Journal Sentinel, 14 Nov. 2024

Health impacts of endocrine disruptors The growing scientific literature suggests that endocrine disruptors could play a part in conditions including attention deficit disorder and impulse control disorders, Bloom added. —Madeline Holcombe, CNN, 29 Oct. 2024

For example, the ability to suppress or filter out stimuli—a function that individuals with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or attention deficit disorder struggle with—develops in the brain as early as 16 weeks of gestation, per Wisner. —Daliah Singer, Smithsonian Magazine, 9 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1978, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

attention deficit disorder

noun

: a condition that is characterized by an inability to maintain attention or by excessively active and impulsive behavior or by a combination of both and that interferes with one's ability to function in school, home, work, or with others

Medical Definition

attention deficit disorder

noun

: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

In the early 1980s, the third DSM added a condition it called "attention deficit disorder", listing two types: attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity … and attention deficit disorder as the subtype without the hyperactivity. However, seven years later, a revised DSM (DSM-III-R) replaced ADD (and its two sub-types) with ADHD …

—Kathy Gibbs, Griffith University

—abbreviation ADD