mental illness

American  

noun

• mental illnesses
  plural

1. any of the various forms of psychosis or severe neurosis.

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mental illness British  

noun

1. any of various disorders in which a person's thoughts, emotions, or behaviour are so abnormal as to cause suffering to himself, herself, or other people

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mental illness Scientific  

/ mĕn′tl /

1. Any of various psychiatric disorders or diseases, usually characterized by impairment of thought, mood, or behavior.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• mental illnesses
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of mental illness

First recorded in 1960–65

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mental illness

Free from drugs and violence, and with treatment for mental illness, they discover spirituality and their creative capacities.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026

Wright also interrogates the boundary between severe mental illness and evil, and wonders whether, even in extreme cases, redemption might be possible.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026

Senior coroner Nicola Mundy said Chapman had a history of mental illness, a diagnosis of schizophrenia and had suffered previous bouts of psychosis.

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026

Rock awkwardly tries to expand this into a story about mental illness.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026

In 2012, several further studies corroborated these initial findings, strengthening the links between these variants of mental illness and family histories and deepening questions about their etiology, epidemiology, triggers, and instigators.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

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Related Words

• insanity
• mental disorder

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