1
2
: a harmful development (as in a social institution)
sees the city's crime as a disease
3
obsolete
: trouble
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
That means a large number of school-age children skipped their vaccinations in the same year that the measles outbreak in West Texas claimed the lives of two children who were not vaccinated against the disease.
—
Lauren Mascarenhas, CNN Money, 19 Feb. 2026
Harm reduction can encompass a range of practices, including handing out free needles to slow the spread of disease, and many local leaders credit some of those efforts with recent drops in fatal overdoses.
—Blake Nelson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Feb. 2026
Vaccines that use mRNA are attractive prospects for protecting against flu and a host of other diseases, including cancer.
—Claire Cameron, Scientific American, 18 Feb. 2026
The actress will next get a PET scan, a nuclear imaging test that helps detect diseases like cancer at a cellular level.
—Arushi Jacob, Variety, 18 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for disease
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Lauren Mascarenhas, CNN Money, 19 Feb. 2026
Harm reduction can encompass a range of practices, including handing out free needles to slow the spread of disease, and many local leaders credit some of those efforts with recent drops in fatal overdoses.
—Blake Nelson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Feb. 2026
Vaccines that use mRNA are attractive prospects for protecting against flu and a host of other diseases, including cancer.
—Claire Cameron, Scientific American, 18 Feb. 2026
The actress will next get a PET scan, a nuclear imaging test that helps detect diseases like cancer at a cellular level.
—Arushi Jacob, Variety, 18 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for disease
Cite this Entry
“Disease.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disease. Accessed 21 Feb. 2026.
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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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Merriam-Webster unabridged
