disease
Americannoun
-
diseases
plural
-
a disordered or incorrectly functioning organ, part, structure, or system of the body resulting from the effect of genetic or developmental errors, infection, poisons, nutritional deficiency or imbalance, toxicity, or unfavorable environmental factors; illness; sickness; ailment.
- Synonyms:
- malady, disorder, infirmity, indisposition, distemper, derangement, complaint, morbidity
- Antonyms:
- health
-
any abnormal condition in a plant that interferes with its vital physiological processes, caused by pathogenic microorganisms, parasites, unfavorable environmental, genetic, or nutritional factors, etc.
-
any harmful, depraved, or morbid condition, as of the mind or society.
His fascination with executions is a disease.
-
decomposition of a material under special circumstances.
tin disease.
verb (used with object)
noun
-
any impairment of normal physiological function affecting all or part of an organism, esp a specific pathological change caused by infection, stress, etc, producing characteristic symptoms; illness or sickness in general
-
a corresponding condition in plants
-
any situation or condition likened to this
the disease of materialism
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of disease
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English disese, from Anglo-French dese(a)se, disaise; dis- 1 + ease
Explanation
A disease is a health condition that has a specific set of symptoms and traits — such as malaria or heart disease. Disease is not always about the human body being sick. Plants and animals are often the victims of disease. People also use the word disease in a more figurative sense to illustrate just how bad or damaging a negative influence can be — like the disease of greed among capitalists or the disease of plagiarism among college students.
Vocabulary lists containing disease
Ecology - Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems - Introductory
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Ecology - Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems - Middle School and High School
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Workshop 5, Part 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
That gives the disease a high potential for an epidemic spread or even a global pandemic, but health officials have cautioned we have a long way to go to get to that point.
From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2026
Plague is a bacterial disease that can occur in several forms, including pneumonic plague, which is the most contagious type and can be transmitted by respiratory means.
From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026
Russian authorities have taken steps to prevent the spread of an infectious disease since the worker’s death.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
He added: "But of course people's thought with any outbreak of infectious disease at all runs to... lockdowns and Covid and that is just not what's going to happen here."
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
“The germs of the disease are numerous in the mucous secretions,” M. M. C. writes.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
The deal marks a continued push by medical-equipment maker GE HealthCare into the growing market for radiopharmaceuticals, which have uses for both diagnosing and treating diseases including cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer’s.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
"There are longer droughts, more extreme heatwaves, while new pests and diseases are spreading," Braj told AFP.
From Barron's ● Oct. 4, 2026
Reduced TET enzyme activity is a common feature in some blood cancers, prompting researchers to investigate whether vitamin C supplements might benefit people at risk of developing these diseases.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 3, 2026
Proposition 38 would authorize the state to issue $8.4 billion in bonds to fund immunology and immunotherapy research to uncover treatments that help the immune system fight diseases such as cancer more effectively.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
The doctor double-checked the list of diseases I had marked on the form earlier.
From "Breaking Through" by Francisco Jiménez
"Farmers may unknowingly buy diseased plants. The trees may look healthy initially, but after five or seven years they can suddenly die, causing huge financial losses," he says.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
Those changes were even more pronounced in diseased livers.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 3, 2026
In particular, they’re examining how bacteria from diseased gums, and the immune response they trigger, may contribute to conditions including heart disease, diabetes, cognitive decline, arthritis, respiratory disease and chronic liver disease.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
Wacky animal sidekicks once felt vibrant in a holistic world of artifice; here, a goggle-eyed rooster just looks diseased.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
She shivered and thought, the words coming freely into her mind, Hill House is vile, it is diseased; get away from here at once.
From "The Haunting of Hill House" by Shirley Jackson
In either case we have diabetes, the sugar irritating and diseasing the kidneys as it passes.”
From Alcohol: A Dangerous and Unnecessary Medicine, How and Why What Medical Writers Say by Martha Meir Allen
They provide for your wants, hearken to your complaints, nurture you in sickness, with a diseasing fondness, and so render you incapable.
From Charlemont; Or, the Pride of the Village. a Tale of Kentucky by William Gilmore Simms
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
