diagnosis

diagnosis, prognosis should perhaps be called near synonyms; but they can be confused because both are employed in a specific medical sense with clear, sharp implications that are often carried over into their general and extended use.

Diagnosis applies to the act or art of recognizing or of identifying a disease or diseased condition by analysis of such factors as the history of the case, its subjective symptoms, and its objective signs as revealed by observation or by special laboratory tests (as a count of the blood cells or an X-ray examination)

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if a physician is not confident of his own diagnosis, he should call in another who has had much experience in similar cases

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operates an experimental auto diagnosis and repair center— Wall Street Jour.

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heat-flow measurements in the earth can aid in our diagnosis of the earth's condition— Benfield

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if he cannot find the cure at least he can help in the diagnosis of our social ills— Firth

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Prognosis applies to the act or art of foretelling the course and the termination of a disease; the term usually implies a correct diagnosis and knowledge of how the disease will affect the patient as it runs its course and of how it will end

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the physician was so confident of his patient's powers of resistance that he could give a favorable prognosis in the case

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a prognosis is based on observation and analysis, and consists of the application to particular instances of generalizations about the actual and hypothetical connections between facts and events— Streeten

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in my opinion the book Brave New World is no longer a prognosis, but a diagnosis— Peerman

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