health
Americannoun
-
the general condition of the body or mind with reference to soundness and vigor.
good health;
poor health.
-
soundness of body or mind; freedom from disease or ailment.
to have one's health;
to lose one's health.
-
a polite or complimentary wish for a person's health, happiness, etc., especially as a toast.
We drank a health to our guest of honor.
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vigor; vitality.
economic health.
noun
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the state of being bodily and mentally vigorous and free from disease
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the general condition of body and mind
in poor health
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the condition of any unit, society, etc
the economic health of a nation
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a toast to a person, wishing him or her good health, happiness, etc
-
(modifier) of or relating to food or other goods reputed to be beneficial to the health
health food
a health store
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(modifier) of or relating to health, esp to the administration of health
a health committee
health resort
health service
interjection
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of health
First recorded before 1000; Middle English helthe, Old English hǣlth; see hale 1, whole, -th 1
Explanation
Your health is the condition of your body. If you barely get any sleep and only eat frozen pizza and jellybeans, you probably have poor health. Health comes from the old English word for "whole," and you can think of it as the state of your whole being — both body and mind. We use health to talk about bodies and people, but also to talk about whole systems. If you lost your job, you might be worried about the health of your finances. If a bad manager provokes employees to be unproductive, investors might be worried about the health of a business.
Vocabulary lists containing health
"Macbeth" Vocabulary from Act III
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Supreme Court healthcare ruling
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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.
But it was terminated by the ICB, which is responsible for planning and funding local health services.
From BBC • May 19, 2026
Along Uganda’s 600-mile border with Congo, troops guard health teams as they screen travelers for symptoms.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 19, 2026
To investigate whether restoring TTP could improve aging related health problems, the research team genetically modified a group of elderly mice so the protein remained stable.
From Science Daily • May 19, 2026
A 50-year-old man in an isolation ward in western Uganda was showing Ebola-like symptoms on Tuesday, including bleeding from the mouth, the local district health department reported.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 19, 2026
“Why was this ghost carrying around a ruby necklace of strength? And a hat of health? How is this even possible?”
From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows
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.
