1
2
: a harmful development (as in a social institution)
sees the city's crime as a disease
3
obsolete
: trouble
Synonyms
Examples of disease in a Sentence
He suffers from a rare genetic disease.
a disease of the mind
Thousands die of heart disease each year.
They are working to stop the spread of disease in rural areas.
The article cites intolerance as one of the most dangerous of society's diseases.
He sees crime as a disease that too often plagues the poor and disadvantaged.
Recent Examples on the Web
In 2018, he was diagnosed with Ménière’s disease, an inner-ear affliction that leads to hearing loss and vertigo.
—
David Browne, Rolling Stone, 5 Apr. 2024
Those fish died of gas bubble disease, which happens when the pressure changes while passing through a tunnel at the base of a dam.
—Kris Millgate, Field & Stream, 5 Apr. 2024
This is in keeping with a long-standing tendency to make immigrants scapegoats for a variety of social problems, including alcoholism and disease.
—Sarah Shannon, The Mercury News, 5 Apr. 2024
By the early 1950s, Norton Healthcare had taken yet another revolutionary step, creating a health care unit focused on alcoholism and treating it as a disease — something that wouldn't become a conventional part of health care for a few more decades.
—Olivia Evans, The Courier-Journal, 4 Apr. 2024
The ongoing oxygen deprivation can lead to a host of serious medical conditions, such as high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, heart attack, heart failure, stroke and arrhythmias, a disruption in heart rhythm that can lead to sudden death, according to the Mayo Clinic.
—Sandee Lamotte, CNN, 4 Apr. 2024
About 6,000 people a year in the United States are diagnosed with ALS, often called Lou Gehrig’s disease, which kills by progressively shutting down the body’s ability to move, speak and eventually breathe.
—Daniel Gilbert, Washington Post, 4 Apr. 2024
Ozzy has since been doing tai chi to help with symptoms of the disease.
—Vanessa Etienne, Peoplemag, 3 Apr. 2024
The federal agency is working with local health departments, state health departments and the U.S. Department of Agriculture and has, over the last two decades, invested in the ability to prevent and treat the disease, the official added.
—Youri Benadjaoud, ABC News, 2 Apr. 2024
David Browne, Rolling Stone, 5 Apr. 2024
Those fish died of gas bubble disease, which happens when the pressure changes while passing through a tunnel at the base of a dam.
—Kris Millgate, Field & Stream, 5 Apr. 2024
This is in keeping with a long-standing tendency to make immigrants scapegoats for a variety of social problems, including alcoholism and disease.
—Sarah Shannon, The Mercury News, 5 Apr. 2024
By the early 1950s, Norton Healthcare had taken yet another revolutionary step, creating a health care unit focused on alcoholism and treating it as a disease — something that wouldn't become a conventional part of health care for a few more decades.
—Olivia Evans, The Courier-Journal, 4 Apr. 2024
The ongoing oxygen deprivation can lead to a host of serious medical conditions, such as high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, heart attack, heart failure, stroke and arrhythmias, a disruption in heart rhythm that can lead to sudden death, according to the Mayo Clinic.
—Sandee Lamotte, CNN, 4 Apr. 2024
About 6,000 people a year in the United States are diagnosed with ALS, often called Lou Gehrig’s disease, which kills by progressively shutting down the body’s ability to move, speak and eventually breathe.
—Daniel Gilbert, Washington Post, 4 Apr. 2024
Ozzy has since been doing tai chi to help with symptoms of the disease.
—Vanessa Etienne, Peoplemag, 3 Apr. 2024
The federal agency is working with local health departments, state health departments and the U.S. Department of Agriculture and has, over the last two decades, invested in the ability to prevent and treat the disease, the official added.
—Youri Benadjaoud, ABC News, 2 Apr. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'disease.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near disease
Cite this Entry
“Disease.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disease. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
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Medical Definition
disease
noun
dis·ease
diz-ˈēz 
: an impairment of the normal state of the living animal or plant body or one of its parts that interrupts or modifies the performance of the vital functions, is typically manifested by distinguishing signs and symptoms, and is a response to environmental factors (as malnutrition, industrial hazards, or climate), to specific infective agents (as worms, bacteria, or viruses), to inherent defects of the organism (as genetic anomalies), or to combinations of these factors : sickness, illness
called also morbus
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