acro-, acr-

A decrease of any sensory recognitions or feelings of a limb (arms or legs) of the body: In physiotherapy it became apparent that Clark was experiencing acroagnosis because he was unable to feel any sensations in his arms.

Loss of sensation in the extremities. such as the hands, fingers, feet, and toes: Severe frostbite or acroanesthesia was painful for Sharon, especially when her fingers started to get warmer.

A medical condition affecting the joints (where two bones meet), usually inflammation of the fingers or toes: Oliver's acroarthritis caused soreness of his fingers resulting in swelling, stiffness, and pain.

1. Neurosis marked by poor digital circulation of the extremities: Angie suffered from acroasphyxia and was so concerned about her fingers and toes being so cold, even when she had socks on.
2. Impaired finger circulation, possibly a mild form of Raynaud’s disease (spasm of the digital arteries causing pallor or blanching of the fingers and toes): Acroasphyxia shows a purplish or waxy white color of the fingers, with subnormal local temperature and paresthesia or abnormal skin sensations.

Acroasphyxia is also known as "dead fingers" or "waxy fingers".

The inability to perform coordinated voluntary movements smoothly which affect the distal portion of the extremities, such as the hands and fingers, the feet, and the toes: Acroataxia results in a person being unable to synchronize his or her muscle activities when trying to move around and which prevents effortless and easy movements.

1. A performer on the trapeze, tightrope, etc.: A person who "walks on tiptoes", such as walking on a wire high above the ground, is called an acrobat!.
2. A skilled performer of gymnastic feats: An acrobat can walk on a tightrope or can swing on a trapeze, for example.
3. Etymology: from French acrobate, from Greek akrobates, "rope dancer, gymnastic performer"; related to akrobatos, "going on tip-toe, climbing up high"; from akros "topmost, at the end point" + bainein, "to walk, to go".

Describing the agility of turning, jumping, balancing, or other gymnastic tricks or feats: Jimmy's dog could do acrobatic flips and catch a frisbee in the air!

A granule within the young sperm cell (a spermatid) that eventually becomes the acrosome or caplike front part of a fully developed sperm cell: An acroblast is a vesicular arrangement in the spermatid created by the Golgi material.

A condition resulting from a fusion of the coronal suture, causing abnormal shortening of the front and back areas of the skull: Acrobrachycephaly results from a person having an abnormally short head in the front and in the back due to the convergence of the bone of the forehead and the two parietal bones, which are the bones that form the sides and the top of the skull.

In botany, referring to growth taking place only at the tip of a leaf or blossom: Acrobryous flora are found in the class of Acrobrya in which development only occurs at the apex of the foliage, like the ferns, algae, lichens, and liverworts.

Inflammation of the prepuce (foreskin); preputial inflammation: Jim had to go to the doctor who diagnosed him as having acrobystits and prescribed some medication which could cure it in a short time.

A genus of carcharodontosaurid dinosaur, meaning "high-spined lizard": The Acrocanthosaurus existed in Oklahoma, Utah, and Texas during the Early Cretaceous time. It was named by U.S paleotologists John Willis Stovall and Wann Langston, Jr. in 1950.

Regarding plants that produce fruit at the end of the stalk, as some mosses: Acrocarpous plants have stems that are upright and clustered and have terminal fructification, or, in other words, have reproductive parts at the tip of a stem.

In genetics, a type of chromosome having the centromere near one end of the replicating chromosome: An acrocentric chromosome has one chromosomal arm that is much longer than the other one.

Descriptive of a head or skull of a person that is pointed and conelike; oxycephaly: An acrocephalia is due to a closure of the corporal and lambdoid sutures which took place much too early or prematurely.