Definition of "cretinism" [cre•tin•ism]

• A congenital condition caused by a deficiency of thyroid hormone during prenatal development and characterized in childhood by dwarfed stature, mental retardation, dystrophy of the bones, and a low basal metabolism. Also called congenital myxedema. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "For example, Thailand (only a half standard deviation below the US) has recently started a what appears to be a well-designed, sensible national program to boost average IQ by fortification of staple foods with iodine and other essential micronutrients in order to prevent IQ-lowering medical syndromes like the medical condition known as cretinism, which is caused by lack of iodine (the US instititued fortification of all salt with iodine back before WWII to eliminate cretinism)."
• "They are horrible too, aren’t they? they did horrible things to deserve this didn’t they? moral cretinism is alive and well in America."
• "Imperfect development or absence of this organ, or an inactive condition of it, produces in the child arrested growth and deficient mental development known as cretinism, and in the adult the same condition gives rise to mental deterioration, swelling of the skin, due to a greater content of water, and loss of hair."