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
• troubled
• dizzy
• out of sorts
• unsound
• under the weather
• sickened
• peaky
• punk
• fragile
• run-down
• 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
• queazy
• 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
• worrying
• disturbing
• plaguing
• agitating
• angering
• distressing
• unsettling
• haunting
• upsetting
• annoying
• perturbing
• discomforting
• derailing
• irritating
• unhinging
• undoing
• exercising
• discomposing
• disquieting
• distempering
• dismaying
• frazzling
• bugging
• rattling
• confusing
• freaking (out)
• embarrassing
• aggravating
• fussing
• hagriding
• exasperating
• flurrying
• vexing
• pestering
• bedeviling
• irking
• weirding out
• harassing
• alaruming
• nettling
• harrying
• discouraging
• chivvying
• chivying
• fretting
• riling
• chafing
• piquing
• galling
• getting
• putting off
• flustering
• grating
• putting out
• confounding
• mortifying
• disconcerting
• peeving
• jarring
• fazing
• dispiriting
• discomfiting
• disheartening
• abashing
• shaking up
• demoralizing
• daunting
• discountenancing
• unnerving
• nonplussing
• nonplusing

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of ailing

Adjective

Actor Timothee Chalamet was praised for his portrayal of Dylan, including a visit to a New Jersey psychiatric hospital to see an ailing Guthrie, who was suffering from Huntington’s disease. —Gary Stoller, Forbes.com, 8 Aug. 2025

Now 86 and ailing, Khamenei has lived long enough to see the total failure of his predecessor’s revolution. —Arash Azizi, The Atlantic, 5 Aug. 2025

Verb

Jong-Fast shoulders the duties of caring for her mother and her ailing stepfather—or of guiltily hiring others to do so—while also tending to her husband, who has been diagnosed with cancer. —Rebecca Mead, New Yorker, 3 Sep. 2025

In the season 7 premiere, it was revealed that Natalie was fired after confessing to stealing medication for her ailing mother. —EW.com, 2 Sep. 2025