verb
- to cause cretinism in; to affect with or reduce to a state of cretinism
Usage: medical/technical; transitive; rare in modern usage
Examples
- Severe iodine deficiency during pregnancy can cretinize the developing fetus.
- Historical cases showed how endemic goiter could cretinize entire populations in isolated regions.
- The condition was thought to cretinize children born in areas with contaminated water supplies.