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rickets definition

rick·ets (rik′its)

noun

a disease of the skeletal system, chiefly of children, resulting from absence of the normal effect of vitamin D in depositing calcium salts in the bone, and characterized by a softening and, often, bending of the bones: usually caused by a lack of vitamin D and insufficient exposure to sunlight

Etymology: altered < ? Gr rhachitis, rachitis

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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