disease
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.
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.
to affect with disease; make ill.
Origin of disease
1Other words for disease
Opposites for disease
Other words from disease
- dis·eas·ed·ly, adverb
- dis·eas·ed·ness, noun
Words Nearby disease
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use disease in a sentence
When the number drops too low it means an epidemic is likely out of control, since officials can no longer keep up with the demand for testing and see where new pockets of disease are spreading.
To that end, his lab infected the brains of mice, chimpanzees, and monkeys with the virus that causes the disease.
Synthetic biologists have created a slow-growing version of the coronavirus to give as a vaccine | David Rotman | September 16, 2020 | MIT Technology ReviewIt found vaccination levels for all diseases globally have dropped to the lowest in 25 years because of pandemic lockdowns and economic destabilization.
‘There’s been some cracks:’ Bill Gates questions FDA’s credibility on a COVID-19 vaccine | Claire Zillman, reporter | September 16, 2020 | FortuneAccording to the commission’s calculations, only 80 or so couples in the US have both partners carry mutations for sickle-cell disease.
A CRISPR Baby Future? New Report Outlines Path to Human Germline Editing | Shelly Fan | September 15, 2020 | Singularity Hub“It was thought for a long time that this is the only way in which an immune response remembers an infection, by these memory lymphocytes,” said Mihai Netea, a clinician and infectious disease specialist at Radboud University in the Netherlands.
‘Trained Immunity’ Offers Hope in Fight Against Coronavirus | Esther Landhuis | September 14, 2020 | Quanta Magazine
Without it, they say, the disease would surely kill her within two years.
He beat his illness twice, wrote about his battles with the disease, and continued broadcasting even as his health was failing.
Remembering ESPN’s Sly, Cocky, and Cool Anchor Stuart Scott | Stereo Williams | January 4, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTIt was a reminder that, as Beyoncé once sang, “Perfection is the disease of a nation,” and her family is hardly flawless.
Yoncé Said Knock You Out: The Solange and Jay Z Story | Kevin O’Keeffe | December 29, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTWorld peace, religious tolerance, and an end to global poverty, hunger, and disease.
Despite the obvious ongoing problems with disease and access to basics, the future of Africa is bright.
In disease, the amount of solids depends mainly upon the activity of metabolism and the ability of the kidneys to excrete.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell ToddMen's lives are as thoroughly blended with each other as the air they breathe: evil spreads as necessarily as disease.
Pearls of Thought | Maturin M. BallouAs a rule, however, persistent glycosuria is diagnostic of diabetes mellitus, of which disease it is the essential symptom.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell ToddHere they are seldom abundant, but their constant presence is the most reliable urinary sign of the disease.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell ToddThe darkness, or rather the general misapprehension, which prevails on this subject, is a frightful source of disease and misery.
Glances at Europe | Horace Greeley
British Dictionary definitions for disease
/ (dɪˈziːz) /
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
Origin of disease
1Other words from disease
- Related adjective: pathological
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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