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 Potential causes include pests like palm weevils, as well as fungal or bacterial diseases. — Ryan MacAsero, Mercury News, 11 Aug. 2026 The organization is also developing regionwide initiatives focused on good governance, peace and security, climate change, and disease control. — Eghosa E. Osaghae, Foreign Affairs, 11 Aug. 2026 Carroll became severely ill, showing that mosquitoes did indeed transmit the disease. — USA Today, 11 Aug. 2026 Lister had studied Louis Pasteur’s germ theory of disease, which posited that infections are caused by bacteria. — Scott Lafee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Aug. 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
  • Several iterations of the idea have since taken shape, expanding to refugees, students with intellectual and developmental disabilities, seniors with chronic illness.
    — Tess Kenny, Chicago Tribune, 15 Aug. 2026
  • The sources haven’t been identified for nine of the ongoing foodborne illness outbreaks and two of the ongoing Salmonella outbreaks.
    — Bruce Y. Lee, Forbes.com, 15 Aug. 2026
Definition of illness
Noun
  • Medics treat heat stroke and other ailments from trailers while an announcer calls out an endless stream of names of people separated from their families.
    — Jane Arraf, NPR, 10 Aug. 2026
  • During his time in the minors, Mayer dealt with hip, back, shoulder and wrist ailments.
    — Justice delos Santos, Mercury News, 9 Aug. 2026
Definition of ailment
Noun
  • Blaming billionaire wealth-hoarding for America’s ills would poll very well among the nation’s anthropology departments.
    — Gilad Edelman, The Atlantic, 19 July 2026
  • Last month, Kwon’s team, in collaboration with Seongju Kim at Hanbat National University, in Daejeon, South Korea, presented its solution to HBM’s future ills.
    — IEEE Spectrum, IEEE Spectrum, 8 July 2026
Definition of ill
Noun
  • A number of cardiovascular conditions—including atrial fibrillation, a common heart rhythm disorder—are linked to cardiac neurons.
    — Isabella Backman, Hartford Courant, 14 Aug. 2026
  • The study connected gut inflammation in 12 children to neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism.
    — Brenda Goodman, CNN Money, 14 Aug. 2026
Definition of disorder
Noun
  • The public comments came shortly after Fauci had privately raised the theoretical possibility that fever and cytokine-related reactions after a second vaccine dose could be associated with first-trimester miscarriage.
    — Sophia Compton, FOXNews.com, 11 Aug. 2026
  • Most infected individuals experience mild to no symptoms, but about 20% experience fever, headache, body aches, vomiting, and nausea.
    — Jessie Baltaxe, CBS News, 11 Aug. 2026
Definition of fever
Noun
  • One owner of an EFL club, who spoke to The Athletic on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships, was more pessimistic.
    — Chris Weatherspoon, New York Times, 14 Aug. 2026
  • The last three Democratic presidents inherited terrible economic conditions and had to spend to rescue the country from soaring joblessness, the housing crisis and the pandemic, respectively.
    — Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 14 Aug. 2026
Definition of condition
Noun
  • But ratepayers, like everyone else, suffer sickness and death when forced to breathe dirty air.
    — John Kostyack, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2026
  • Additionally, there are temporal patterns to when certain viruses reactivate during sickness.
    — Theresa Gaffney, STAT, 6 Aug. 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 18 Aug. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on disease

Nglish: Translation of disease for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

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

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of oxymoron

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words

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

Do you 'say your piece' or 'say your peace'?

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

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

Is “GIF” Pronounced “Jiff” or “Giff”?

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List
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
image of a green cube out of place in a lineup of red spheres
Odd Word Out: Synonyms Vol. 2 Quiz Figure out which word isn't like the others.
See All