morbidity

[mawr-bid-i-tee]

noun

1. a morbid state or quality.

2. the proportion of sickness or of a specific disease in a geographical locality.

Word History and Origins

Origin of morbidity¹

First recorded in 1715–25; morbid + -ity

Example Sentences

Alissa added that the rollback could overwhelm the healthcare systems in Florida financially and health-wise, leading to increased morbidity and mortality rates.

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Prof Mabbott said: "Living a lot longer, but suffering from the multiple morbidities that can accompany ageing, and in-and-out of hospital for another tissue transplant does not sound an attractive way to spend my retirement!"

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“Data also support the benefit of vaccination in reducing pregnancy complications, such as severe maternal morbidity, preterm birth, and stillbirth.”

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“It is a major cause of morbidity and mortality, particularly in older adults, but it does affect other people, particularly those with underlying conditions, in younger age groups.”

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And I’m not comfortable with the amount of morbidity and mortality associated with visceral fat and saying we shouldn’t do something about that.

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Related Words

• anguish 
• bitterness 
• despair 
• discouragement 
• doldrums 
• foreboding 
• grief 
• horror 
• malaise 
• misery 
• pessimism 
• sadness 
• sorrow 
• weariness 
• woe 

When To Use

What’s the difference between morbidity and mortality?

In a medical context, the word morbidity refers to the incidence or prevalence of a disease in a specific population or location (sometimes called the morbidity rate), while the word mortality refers to relative frequency of deaths in a specific population or location (sometimes called the mortality rate).The related word cormorbidity is used in medical contexts to refer to the state of having multiple medical conditions at the same time.In this context, morbidity relates to sickness, while mortality relates to death.Both morbidity and mortality are also used in nontechnical ways. Morbidity is the noun form of the adjective morbid, which most commonly means excessively gloomy or having an unusual interest in dark subjects, like death. Morbidity, then, can be used to refer to the quality of having this interest, as in Her latest novel lacks the morbidity of her earlier works. Mortality, on the other hand, most commonly refers to the state or condition of being subject to death, as in Humans are aware of their own mortality. The opposite of this is immortality—unending life.Here’s an example of morbidity and mortality used correctly in the same sentence.Example: Studies show that while the morbidity in the region remains quite high, the mortality rate from the disease has continued to drop. Want to learn more? Read the full breakdown of the difference between morbidity and mortality.