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

Relevance

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 He was diagnosed at age 25 with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, a rare kidney disease. — Michelle Marchante, Miami Herald, 27 Oct. 2026 Regulatory requirements and market pressure together push drug manufacturers toward narrow indications, one tumor type and one disease stage at a time. — Karen E. Knudsen, STAT, 27 Oct. 2026 Ursula von Rydingsvard, a sculptor who responded to the austerity of Minimalism with monumental cedar sculptures that had a distinctly human touch, died in New York on Tuesday following a battle with Alzheimer’s disease. — Alex Greenberger, ARTnews.com, 27 Oct. 2026 In Congo, the disease has spread to 66 health zones across eight provinces, from three zones when it was first declared in May. — ABC News, 27 Oct. 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
  • Large companies can spread that risk across many people; at a small business, one serious illness or accident can quickly raise costs.
    — Jen Christensen, CNN Money, 24 Oct. 2026
  • Shigellosis is a gastrointestinal illness caused by a group of bacteria called Shigella.
    — Devika Rao, TheWeek, 23 Oct. 2026
Definition of illness
Noun
  • Last season, Williams missed 49 regular-season games and much of the postseason after dealing with a right wrist injury that required surgery and nagging hamstring ailments in both legs.
    — Scott Thompson OutKick, FOXNews.com, 27 Oct. 2026
  • So, too, was Capra’s, despite some misbegotten movies and his struggles with depression and other ailments.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 27 Oct. 2026
Definition of ailment
Noun
  • Hilton has blasted Becerra as taking the state’s voters for granted, failing to hold public campaign events to explain his detailed plans to address California’s many ills.
    — Seema Mehta, Los Angeles Times, 19 Oct. 2026
  • Now, in The Social Reckoning, Sorkin focuses on the ills of the company Facebook eventually became.
    — Eliana Dockterman, Time, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of ill
Noun
  • Lewy body dementia symptoms tend to start with rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder, such as screaming or kicking during sleep.
    — Iris Kwok, Los Angeles Times, 30 Oct. 2026
  • Patients diagnosed with all types of conditions and disorders are forced to endure all types of abuses.
    — Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 30 Oct. 2026
Definition of disorder
Noun
  • When the rash appears, the fever may spike over 104 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
    — Dan Raby, CBS News, 27 Oct. 2026
  • Another, published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases, involved a man who developed fever and severe diarrhea after eating undercooked pigeon meat.
    — Rachel Melegrito, Scientific American, 26 Oct. 2026
Definition of fever
Noun
  • Testing will then progress through increasingly higher power levels, allowing engineers to evaluate the reactor core, instrumentation, and integrated systems under operating conditions.
    — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 30 Oct. 2026
  • More subpoenas were expected, according to the person who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the ongoing probe.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 30 Oct. 2026
Definition of condition
Noun
  • But important clues about how the sickness operates are emerging from the latest studies of bacterial DNA in ancient bones and teeth.
    — Faye Flam, Scientific American, 27 Oct. 2026
  • In the Buendías’ legacy of love and betrayal, loyalty and idealism, there was domestic and political violence, but there was also ice in the middle of the jungle and a sickness that put the whole town to sleep and girls that became witches.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 26 Oct. 2026
Definition of sickness

Phrases Containing disease

Browse Nearby Words

disdains
disease
diseased
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Disease.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/disease. Accessed 3 Nov. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of candidate

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

7 Words for Old-Timey Vehicles

Ten More Words from Taylor Swift Songs

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
couple-laugh-cafe
Quiz: Foreign Phrases You Should Know Check out your bona fides and avoid any faux pas.
See All