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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 Could the flock still carry the disease after an outbreak ten months earlier? — J. B. MacKinnon, Harpers Magazine, 22 Sep. 2026 After 16 months of radiation and chemotherapy, a September 2025 scan showed the cancer had spread to his spinal cord, a condition called leptomeningeal disease that usually proves fatal within a few months. — Arthur Allen, CBS News, 21 Sep. 2026 Scratching a mosquito bite can also break the skin barrier, allowing germs to enter the body more easily and increasing the risk of disease, Kumar notes. — Tom Gavin, EverydayHealth.com, 21 Sep. 2026 After the plague arrived in South Dakota in 2005, the acreage occupied by prairie dogs near Badlands National Park shrunk by three quarters within a decade, despite concomitant efforts to rein in the disease. — Shi En Kim, AZCentral.com, 21 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
  • On Friday, the pope strongly reiterated the Church's pro-life teachings, criticizing initiatives to allow assisted dying for those who have incurable illnesses.
    — Joshua McElwee, Arkansas Online, 26 Sep. 2026
  • Hair loss in women can be caused by many things, including your genetics, illnesses, nutritional deficiencies, physiological stress and shifts in hormones.
    — Lindsey Bever, Washington Post, 26 Sep. 2026
Definition of illness
Noun
  • In determining whether to reimburse treatment for such ailments, insurers turn to Food and Drug Administration labels and expert guidelines.
    — Arthur Allen, CBS News, 21 Sep. 2026
  • Eleven gullible idiots were talked into acquitting because of an imaginary female ailment.
    — Voice of the People, New York Daily News, 20 Sep. 2026
Definition of ailment
Noun
  • In this framework, the cure for the party’s ills can only come from inside the party, not from any external force.
    — ANDREW MERTHA, Foreign Affairs, 17 Sep. 2026
  • Football cannot be expected to answer societal ills, but this is the sort of area in which the club’s foundation does its invaluable outreach work, a place touched by those statistics about deprivation and crime.
    — Michael Walker, New York Times, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of ill
Noun
  • But hair loss is also a potential symptom of PMOS, which stands for polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome, a common hormonal disorder that affects about 5 to 6 million women in the United States.
    — Lindsey Bever, Washington Post, 26 Sep. 2026
  • No consistent associations stood out for obsessive-compulsive disorder, and associations between infections and ADHD could also be accounted for by other relationship factors.
    — Mike McRae September 24, New Atlas, 25 Sep. 2026
Definition of disorder
Noun
  • But about 1 in 20 patients progress to severe dengue, a life-threatening turn that tends to strike just as the fever breaks – often around days three to seven, when patients and their families may wrongly assume the worst is over.
    — Andrés Henao, CNN Money, 21 Sep. 2026
  • Symptoms remain wide-ranging, including fever, congestion, fatigue and gastrointestinal issues, with severe symptoms lasting up to a week, Guest says.
    — Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 21 Sep. 2026
Definition of fever
Noun
  • The next phase will test the aircraft across increasingly demanding conditions.
    — Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 25 Sep. 2026
  • The ticket price fluctuates based on usage conditions so as not to cause dissatisfaction among customers waiting in line.
    — Masayuki Oi Japan News, Arkansas Online, 25 Sep. 2026
Definition of condition
Noun
  • Mao’s resolution treated each of these as a sickness that could sometimes be cured through a regimen of criticism and self-criticism in front of peers.
    — ANDREW MERTHA, Foreign Affairs, 17 Sep. 2026
  • 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
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 29 Sep. 2026.

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