infirmities

noun

plural of infirmity
as in diseases
an abnormal state that disrupts a plant's or animal's normal bodily functioning an 18th-century quack who specialized in those mysterious infirmities that are known only to the idle rich

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

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 infirmities Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said protecting elderly people from predators who take advantage of their mental or physical infirmities is a priority of her office. — Carol Marbin Miller, Miami Herald, 16 Apr. 2026 Because of his infirmities, he is housed in a medical unit of the jail, away from the general population. — Maer Roshan, HollywoodReporter, 10 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for infirmities
  1. diseases
  2. ailments
  3. illnesses
  4. ills
  5. sicknesses
  6. fevers
Noun
  • Metabolic diseases may be around Wall Street, maybe asthma would be all around Washington Square.
    — Quanta Magazine, Quanta Magazine, 12 Nov. 2026
  • Early on, with input from his team, Bancel decided to focus Moderna’s limited resources on rare diseases involving missing proteins, because seeing if the mRNA could replace them would be a relatively quicker process.
    — Time, Time, 12 Nov. 2026
Definition of diseases
Noun
  • In the modern age, that responsibility extends beyond simply curing the ailments of war.
    — Aliss Higham, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Nov. 2026
  • And there’s reason to believe there might have been one or two more ailments.
    — Chris Perkins, Sun Sentinel, 10 Nov. 2026
Definition of ailments
Noun
  • Skipping them can increase the risk of gastrointestinal illnesses, which can spread quickly in close quarters onboard.
    — Kristy Tolley, Travel + Leisure, 5 Nov. 2026
  • The new clinic offers a range of services for dogs and cats, including wellness exams, vaccinations, flea and heartworm prevention, microchipping, diagnostic lab work and treatment for basic illnesses.
    — Ashley Vega, PEOPLE, 5 Nov. 2026
Definition of illnesses
Noun
  • Humor and/or wit feature in your work to address serious issues of the heart or to comment on the socio-political ills of the world.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 2 Nov. 2026
  • 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
Definition of ills
Noun
  • And while children, the elderly and those with certain sicknesses or medications are most susceptible to heat illness – these temperatures affect everyone.
    — Ashley Miznazi, Miami Herald, 17 July 2026
  • At the end of the day, both doctors agree that hotel stays shouldn’t deter people from traveling altogether, since there are always ways to proactively minimize exposure and subsequent sicknesses.
    — Joey Skladany, Travel + Leisure, 30 June 2026
Definition of sicknesses
Noun
  • The Bundibugyo virus comes from the same family as the Ebola virus that caused the 2014 West Africa and 2018 Congo epidemics, causing the fatal fevers associated with Ebola.
    — Ananya Rupanagunta, Vox, 21 Oct. 2026
  • Listeria’s high fevers can cause miscarriages and stillbirths in pregnant women.
    — David J. Neal, Miami Herald, 18 Oct. 2026
Definition of fevers

Browse Nearby Words

infirmary
infirmities
infirmity
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Infirmities.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/infirmities. Accessed 14 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

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

31 Useful Rhetorical Devices

More Commonly Misspelled Words

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

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'
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

The Longest Long Words List

The Words of the Week - Nov. 13

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)
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
speech-bubble-untangle
Simplify The Convoluted Expression Quiz A quiz that’s as “uncomplicated as a round de...
See All