MENINGITIS

noun (plural meningitides) Etymology: New Latin Date: 1824 inflammation of the meninges and especially of the pia mater and the arachnoid, a disease marked by inflammation of the meninges that may be either a relatively mild illness caused by a virus (as the Coxsackie virus) or a more severe life-threatening illness caused by a bacterium (as the meningococcus), meningitic adjective