illness

[il-nis]

noun

1. poor health; sickness.

   He grew up in an environment known for poverty, illness, and little opportunity for education.

2. a specific sickness or disease, or an instance of such.

   Please be as accurate as possible in listing your childhood illnesses.

   Synonyms: infirmity, affliction, ailment

3. Obsolete.,  wickedness.

illness

/ ˈɪlnɪs /

noun

1. a disease or indisposition; sickness

2. a state of ill health

3. obsolete,  wickedness

Word History and Origins

Origin of illness¹

First recorded in 1490–1500; ill + -ness

Example Sentences

Today, psychiatrists emphasize mental illness’s biological and hereditary origin, which forms the basis for many treatments.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Such juju men sometimes refer to themselves as herbalists, the name given to healers who use traditional medicine often made from local plants to treat common illnesses.

Read more on BBC

Mr. Means has assailed American agriculture firms and claimed pesticides and the Roundup weed-killer are increasing chronic illness.

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It also allows for assisted dying if treatment offers no reasonable prospect of recovery or improvement in the patient's condition, but not to end unbearable suffering from mental illness.

Read more on Barron's

In an essay published Saturday in the New Yorker, the 35-year-old environmental journalist wrote her illness was discovered in May 2024 after she gave birth to her daughter.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• ailment 
• breakdown 
• collapse 
• disability 
• disorder 
• disturbance 
• flu 
• ill health www.thesaurus.com
• malady 
• relapse 
• seizure 
• sickness 
• syndrome 
• virus 

When To Use

What does illness mean?

Illness is a state of poor health or sickness, as in I’ve had to miss a lot of work due to illness.The word illness is also commonly used to refer to a disease or instance of sickness.This sense of the word is often used when the type of disease is uncertain or unknown or when someone doesn’t want to specify what it is, as in They said that he is in the hospital with an illness, but they didn’t provide any further details. The word illness is based on the adjective ill, meaning sick.Example: The best way to avoid illness is to thoroughly wash your hands.