English

Adjective

spectrumy ‎(comparative more spectrumy, superlative most spectrumy)

1. (informal) Having some characteristics of the autism spectrum.
   • 2011, Claire LaZebnik, Families and Other Nonreturnable Gifts, 5 Spot (2011), ISBN 9781455505500, unnumbered page:

     I even e-mailed Hopkins to try to get her to back me up, but she wrote back, If Mom decides she wants to kick him out at any point, she will and he’ll be fine. He’s a little spectrumy, but perfectly competent. But so long as she’s happy having him at home, let them have each other. Without any support from the actual neurologist in the family, I gave up.

   • 2011, Nicholas Blincoe, "Zero Degrees of Empathy by Simon Baron-Cohen: review", The Telegraph, 25 April 2011:

     His quiz was designed to detect autism and my score probably suggests I am “spectrumy” – to use a non-technical term – rather than a psycho.

   • 2012, Carrie Goldman, Bullied: What Every Parent, Teacher, and Kid Needs to Know About Ending the Cycle of Fear, HarperOne (2012), ISBN 9780062205896, unnumbered page:

     Before the school year began, Francine met with the principal and the kindergarten teacher at the school. From the first moment, the meeting was rancorous. "The principal started telling me that Adam sounded spectrumy and needed occupational therapy and speech therapy, and she had never even met him yet. […]

   • For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:spectrumy.

Synonyms

• on the spectrum