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disease

noun

di-ˈzēz How to pronounce disease (audio)
Definition of diseasenext
as in illness
an abnormal state that disrupts a plant's or animal's normal bodily functioning they caught a rare disease while they were traveling in Africa and were sick for weeks

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of disease Introducing a fish foreign to the region could bring diseases into the water. — John Donegan Long Beach Post, Arkansas Online, 15 Sep. 2026 Rabies is a deadly but preventable viral disease that primarily affects the central nervous system, the CDC said. — Gagandeep Singh, Sacbee.com, 15 Sep. 2026 By the time symptoms appear, and the disease is diagnosed, many patients are approaching end-stage kidney disease. — Shiv Sudhakar, FOXNews.com, 15 Sep. 2026 Several other diseases can affect the salivary glands and look similar to Sjögren’s disease on imaging. — Julie Scott, Verywell Health, 15 Sep. 2026 See All Example Sentences for disease
Recent Examples of Synonyms for disease
  1. illness
  2. ailment
  3. ill
  4. disorder
  5. fever
  6. condition
  7. sickness
Noun
  • As a result, more people have now died of environmental illnesses that followed the September 11 attacks than perished during the collapse of the towers that day.
    — Brenda Goodman, CNN Money, 19 Sep. 2026
  • About 80% of infected people develop no symptoms, while most others experience a mild flu-like illness.
    — Giada Zampano, Los Angeles Times, 19 Sep. 2026
Definition of illness
Noun
  • Delane injured his shoulder while being tackled on the interception, an ailment that cost him time in training camp.
    — Sam McDowell, Kansas City Star, 15 Sep. 2026
  • By April 4, he’d been placed on the 15-day IL with left hip inflammation, an ailment that later required a move to the 60-day IL in May.
    — Johnny Flores Jr, New York Times, 13 Sep. 2026
Definition of ailment
Noun
  • Manny Navarro North Carolina Bobby Petrino has fixed all the offensive ills.
    — The Athletic College Football Staff, New York Times, 9 Sep. 2026
  • But unlike Transcription or George Saunders’s Vigil, the year’s other novel about a rich old man on his way to the underworld, this book doesn’t try to diagnose our collective ills.
    — Emma Alpern, Vulture, 7 Sep. 2026
Definition of ill
Noun
  • Kyl died Wednesday night from a neurological disorder, said Gordon James, a communications professional who is a longtime friend of the Kyl family.
    — JACQUES BILLEAUD THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, Arkansas Online, 18 Sep. 2026
  • Ning Xu of Tsinghua University in Beijing beat out 346 other video entries from 40 different countries with his super-resolution video (above) of the abnormal beating of cilia in the airways of a child with a rare genetic respiratory disorder.
    — Jennifer Ouellette, ArsTechnica, 18 Sep. 2026
Definition of disorder
Noun
  • Measles symptoms typically appear within one to two weeks and can include a high fever, a cough, runny nose and red eyes, white dots inside the mouth and a rash that starts on the face and spreads down the body, health officials said.
    — Nathan Pilling, Kansas City Star, 14 Sep. 2026
  • Healthy people infected with salmonella often experience fever, bloody diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain, according to the federal health agency.
    — Julia Hawkins, Idaho Statesman, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of fever
Noun
  • Secor is studying new ink materials designed to withstand extreme conditions, including the temperature swings encountered in space.
    — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 18 Sep. 2026
  • Scoggin set bail at $400,000 with no conditions and $200,000 with conditions.
    — TIM SULLIVAN, Arkansas Online, 18 Sep. 2026
Definition of condition
Noun
  • In Lee Cronin’s The Mummy, evil is a native sickness that contaminates an otherwise perfect, unsullied child of empire.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 Sep. 2026
  • There’s a mysterious sickness going around, apparently caused by a toxic fog that invisibly burns the skin of whoever comes into contact with it.
    — Beatrice Loayza, Variety, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of sickness

Phrases Containing disease

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disdains
disease
diseased
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Cite this Entry

“Disease.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/disease. Accessed 22 Sep. 2026.

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