malady

[mal-uh-dee]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR malady ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural mal·a·dies.

any disorder or disease of the body, especially one that is chronic or deepseated.

any undesirable or disordered condition: social maladies; a malady of the spirit.

Origin of malady

1200–50; Middle English maladie < Old French, equivalent to malade sick (< Late Latin male habitus literally, ill-conditioned; see mal-, habit¹) + -ie -y³

Can be confusedmalady melody

Synonyms for malady

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR malady ON THESAURUS.COM

1. illness, sickness, affliction, complaint, ailment, indisposition.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for malady

illness, syndrome, cancer, sickness, disability, virus, infection, epidemic, fever, inflammation, affliction, blight, ache, disorder, infirmity, ailment, flu, complaint, contagion, debility

Examples from the Web for malady

Contemporary Examples of malady

Some places (like Syria) are prone to this malady, and others (like America) are not.
Who Shrunk America?
Tunku Varadarajan
September 5, 2013
Nobody would hold up the single outpost of Moo Cluck Moo as a cure for the malady of low wages.
A Fast-Food Joint Thrives, Even by Paying $12 an Hour
Daniel Gross
August 2, 2013
But the burnout described in this and so many other articles is not really a malady.
Study Says Doctors More Burned Out Than Others, But It’s Not Really a Malady
Kent Sepkowitz
August 23, 2012
A solution, however, requires some consensus about what the malady is and how to treat it.
Colorado Blazes Remind Us That National Policy on Fire Needs a Fix
Stephen J. Pyne
June 29, 2012
A conservative JournoList would hardly be the cure for that malady, if we can call it that.
What Liberal Bloggers Can Teach the Right
Reihan Salam
July 24, 2010

Historical Examples of malady

The surgeon was in constant attendance, but the malady baffled all his skill.
Brave and Bold
Horatio Alger
Life, that would fain be a melody, seems here almost a malady.
Ballads of a Bohemian
Robert W. Service
I look with confidence to her malady as my triumphant vindication.
Punchinello, Vol. 1, No. 8, May 21, 1870
Various
This was a malady which had not been mentioned at the medical college.
Chip, of the Flying U
B. M. Bower
She was wearier now than ever before, for there was no cure for her malady.
A Little Book of Profitable Tales
Eugene Field

British Dictionary definitions for malady

malady

noun plural -dies

any disease or illness

any unhealthy, morbid, or desperate conditiona malady of the spirit

Word Origin for malady

C13: from Old French, from Vulgar Latin male habitus (unattested) in poor condition, from Latin male badly + habitus, from habēre to have

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

Word Origin and History for malady

late 13c., from Old French maladie "sickness, illness, disease" (13c.), from malade "ill" (12c.), from Latin male habitus "doing poorly, feeling sick," literally "ill-conditioned," from male "badly" (see mal-) + habitus, past participle of habere "have, hold" (see habit). Related: Maladies.

malady in Medicine

malady

[măl′ə-dē]

n.

A disease, disorder, or ailment.