para-, par-

(Greek: by the side of, beside, past, beyond; contrary, wrong, irregular, abnormal)

paramnesia (s) (noun) (no plural)
1. A distortion of memory in which facts and imaginations are confused: Jane's dream was so real that she thought that she was in Canada visiting her daughter, but after waking up the next morning, she realized that she was still in Germany, and this bafflement must have been a case of paramnesia!
2. Disordered or perverted memory, especially of the meaning of words: Maybe Aunt Mary was getting so old that she was suffering from paramnesia and just couldn't understand what Sally was telling her, although she was using just simple terms to explain herself.
3. False recollections, as of events that have never occurred: Doug was positive that he left his keys in the bowl beside the front door but, even though he searched everywhere, he didn't find them there but in the kitchen drawer, and his wife was sure that he experienced a bout of paramnesia!
paramorphic
paramorphism
The change of one mineral species to another, so as to involve a change in physical characters without alteration of chemical composition.
paramyxovirus
One of a group of RNA viruses that are responsible predominantly for acute respiratory diseases and are usually transmitted in an airborne manner.

The paramyxoviruses include the agents of mumps, measles (rubeola), RSV (respiratory syncytial virus, which mainly afflicts children), Newcastle disease, parainfluenza, Sendai virus and Hendra virus.

Many of the paramyxoviruses cause disease in animals; such as, canine distemper and turkey rhinotracheitis.

paranephric
paranephritis
paranephroma
paranoia; (also spelled) paranoea
1. An extreme, irrational, and unreasonable suspicion or distrust of other people and their motives.
2. A psychiatric disorder characterized by an elaborate, overly suspicious system of thinking which often includes delusions of persecution and grandeur usually centered on one major theme; such as, a financial matter, a job situation, an unfaithful spouse, or another problem including being followed or monitored by a governmental intelligence agency; by outer space aliens; being the victim of computer tampering; or of being poisoned.
3. A condition in which patients show persistent persecutory delusions or delusional jealousy, with emotion and behavior appropriate to the content of the delusional system.

The condition also is characterized by symptoms of schizophrenia; such as, bizarre delusions or incoherence and it is stated that the illness is not a result of an organic disease of the brain (Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, 18th Edition, 1997).

4. Etymology: "mental disorder characterized by systematized delusions", 1891 (earlier paranoea 1811), from Greek paranoia, "mental derangement, madness,"; which came from paranoos, "mentally ill, insane", from para-, "beside, beyond" + noos, "mind" and Greek noein, "to think".
paranoiac
1. Characteristic of, or resembling, paranoia.
2. Concerning or afflicted with paranoia.
paranoid
1. Resembling, characteristic of, or affected with paranoia.
2. Exhibiting or characterized by extreme and irrational fear or distrust of others: "He had a paranoid suspicion that government agents were listening to his phone calls."
paranoid disorder
A mental disorder characterized by an impaired sense of reality and persistent delusions.
paranoid ideation
1. Suspicious thinking that is persecutory, accompanied by feelings that one is being harassed, treated wrongly, or being judged critically.
2. An exaggerated, sometimes grandiose, belief or suspicion that the person is being harassed, persecuted, or treated unfairly.
paranoid personality disorder
A psychiatric disorder characterized by extreme suspicion and distrust of others to the degree that he/she blames them for her/his mistakes and failures and goes to abnormal lengths to validate prejudices, attitudes, or biases.
paranoid reaction
A psychopathological condition that may be associaed with delirium or dementia and characterized by the gradual formation of delusions, usually of a persecutory nature and often accompanied by related hallucinations.
paranoid reaction type
An individual who has fixed systematized delusions, is suspicious, has a persecution complex, is resentful and bitter, and is a megalomaniac (mental condition where the patient exhibits delusions of grandeur or a greatly enhanced opinion of himself/herself).