METATHESAURUS Meaning and
Definition
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Metathesaurus is a term used in the field of biomedical informatics and medical terminology. It refers to a comprehensive and multilingual lexical resource that aims to integrate and harmonize various biomedical vocabularies and terminologies into a coherent and unified structure. The Metathesaurus is primarily developed and maintained by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) as part of the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS).
The Metathesaurus serves as a bridge between different terminologies used in healthcare, scientific literature, electronic health records, and other biomedical databases. It provides a mapping mechanism that links synonymous or related terms from different vocabularies, enabling efficient cross-referencing and retrieval of information.
This resource contains an extensive collection of concepts, terms, and synonyms from over 150 different biomedical vocabularies and databases. These include widely used terminologies such as Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), International Classification of Diseases (ICD), Current Procedural Terminology (CPT), and Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine (SNOMED).
The Metathesaurus facilitates semantic interoperability across systems and applications by enabling the integration and standardization of disparate terminologies. It supports a wide range of applications, including natural language processing, information retrieval, data mining, and clinical decision support. Researchers, health professionals, and software developers rely on the Metathesaurus to improve data integration, knowledge extraction, and information exchange in the biomedical field.
Common Misspellings for METATHESAURUS
- netathesaurus
- ketathesaurus
- jetathesaurus
- mwtathesaurus
- mstathesaurus
- mdtathesaurus
- mrtathesaurus
- m4tathesaurus
- m3tathesaurus
- merathesaurus
- mefathesaurus
- megathesaurus
- meyathesaurus
- me6athesaurus
- me5athesaurus
- metzthesaurus
- metsthesaurus
- metwthesaurus
- metqthesaurus
- metarhesaurus
Etymology of METATHESAURUS
The word "Metathesaurus" is a combination of two Greek roots: "meta" and "thesaurus".
"Meta" (μετά) in Greek means "beyond" or "transcending". It is a prefix often used to indicate change, transformation, or going beyond something.
"Thesaurus" (θησαυρός) in Greek means "treasure" or "storehouse". It is used to refer to a collection or repository of knowledge, similar to a dictionary or encyclopedia.
When these two roots are combined, "Metathesaurus" suggests a transformation or expansion of a storehouse or treasury of information. The term is commonly used in the context of medical terminology, specifically referring to a large and comprehensive medical vocabulary database maintained by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) in the United States.
