Synonyms of ailing

ailing 1 of 2

adjective

ˈā-liŋ 

1

as in fragile

chronically or repeatedly suffering from poor health

when his ailing wife had to go to a nursing home, he visited her every day

Synonyms & Similar Words

• fragile
• dying
• frail
• sickly
• sick
• weak
• invalid
• weakly
• feeble
• fading
• bedridden
• moribund
• debilitated
• delicate
• weakened
• ill
• incurable
• incapacitated
• enfeebled
• infirm
• decrepit
• bedfast
• poorly
• unwell
• indisposed
• unhealthy
• worn-out
• unsound
• run-down
• peaked

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• well
• healthy
• whole
• sound
• wholesome
• hale
• fit
• hearty
• able-bodied
• well-conditioned

2

as in sick

temporarily suffering from a disorder of the body

he was ailing from some sort of infection in his eye that made it look all red and puffy

Synonyms & Similar Words

• sick
• poorly
• bad
• ill
• down
• unwell
• weak
• shaky
• indisposed
• unhealthy
• dizzy
• troubled
• out of sorts
• unsound
• under the weather
• sickened
• peaky
• punk
• run-down
• fragile
• peaked
• symptomatic
• disabled
• diseased
• feeble
• afflicted
• frail
• sickish
• infirm
• debilitated
• sickly
• decrepit
• lousy
• cruddy
• seedy
• achy
• woozy
• feverish
• incapacitated
• nauseous
• queasy
• squeamish
• disordered
• seasick
• nauseated
• weakly
• invalid
• hypochondriacal
• airsick
• qualmish
• hypochondriac
• carsick
• light-headed

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• whole
• well
• healthy
• sound
• healthful
• wholesome
• hale
• fit
• cured
• better
• able-bodied
• conditioned
• recovering
• improved
• mending
• strong
• hardy
• tough
• well-conditioned
• stalwart
• robust
• lusty
• hearty
• flourishing
• convalescing
• thriving
• rugged
• recuperating
• blooming
• bouncing
• rehabilitated
• flush
• chipper

ailing

2 of 2

verb

present participle of ail

as in bothering

to trouble the mind of; to make uneasy

parents who were at a loss to explain what was ailing their normally vivacious daughter

Synonyms & Similar Words

• bothering
• concerning
• alarming
• distracting
• disturbing
• worrying
• plaguing
• agitating
• angering
• distressing
• unsettling
• haunting
• upsetting
• annoying
• perturbing
• discomforting
• derailing
• irritating
• exercising
• undoing
• unhinging
• dismaying
• disquieting
• rattling
• bugging
• confusing
• freaking (out)
• embarrassing
• aggravating
• discomposing
• fussing
• exasperating
• distempering
• hagriding
• frazzling
• vexing
• pestering
• bedeviling
• irking
• harassing
• flurrying
• weirding out
• nettling
• harrying
• discouraging
• fretting
• riling
• chafing
• getting
• piquing
• galling
• putting off
• grating
• chivying
• putting out
• confounding
• mortifying
• disconcerting
• jarring
• peeving
• dispiriting
• discomfiting
• flustering
• disheartening
• daunting
• demoralizing
• shaking up
• discountenancing
• unnerving
• fazing
• nonplussing
• abashing

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• soothing
• composing
• settling
• calming
• quieting
• alleviating
• allaying
• tranquilizing
• appeasing
• assuaging
• placating
• pacifying
• conciliating
• mollifying
• propitiating

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of ailing

Adjective

Overture 41, by Annick Menardo at 41 percent and aged the same, returns to Overture Woman, the 2020 Harrods exclusive about an understudy pushed onstage in place of an ailing diva. — Ritu Upadhyay, Footwear News, 2 Sep. 2026

The Giants also provided updates on a pair of ailing position players. — Joseph Dycus, Mercury News, 26 Aug. 2026

Verb

In it, Leó, a renowned geriatrician specialized in Alzheimer’s disease, develops an unconventional friendship with Ásdís, a psychiatrist who’s returned to Iceland to care for her ailing grandmother. — Annika Pham, Variety, 21 Aug. 2026

But that doesn’t mean the Sussexes are ready to fully give up on their American dream (despite a Wall Street Journal headline that suggests that this is a branding move to save the couple’s ailing business ventures). — Katie Schultz, Architectural Digest, 20 Aug. 2026