differential diagnosis

noun differential diagnoses

1. countable, uncountable The process of determining which disease, from a set of possible candidates, is causing a patient's symptoms. Case reports in arthropathies less often rely on macroscopy alone[…]. A factor here is that these tend to concentrate on the rarer forms of arthritis […] that require careful differential diagnosis for which the radiological appearance is often critical.
2. countable, uncountable A list of possible causes of a primary symptom or a collection of symptoms. 2000 August 15, Harry D. McKinnon and Thomas Howard, “Evaluating the Febrile Patient with a Rash”, in American Family Physician, American Academy of Family Physicians, page 804, The differential diagnosis for febrile patients with a rash is extensive.