malady
[mal-uh-dee]
- 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.
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Origin of malady
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comDictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
illnesssyndromecancersicknessdisabilityvirusinfectionepidemicfeverinflammationafflictionblightachedisorderinfirmityailmentflucomplaintcontagiondebilityExamples from the Web for malady
Contemporary Examples
Some places (like Syria) are prone to this malady, and others (like America) are not.
Nobody would hold up the single outpost of Moo Cluck Moo as a cure for the malady of low wages.
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 MaladyKent Sepkowitz
August 23, 2012
A solution, however, requires some consensus about what the malady is and how to treat it.
A conservative JournoList would hardly be the cure for that malady, if we can call it that.
Historical Examples
The surgeon was in constant attendance, but the malady baffled all his skill.
Brave and BoldHoratio Alger
Life, that would fain be a melody, seems here almost a malady.
Ballads of a BohemianRobert W. Service
I look with confidence to her malady as my triumphant vindication.
This was a malady which had not been mentioned at the medical college.
Chip, of the Flying UB. M. Bower
She was wearier now than ever before, for there was no cure for her malady.
A Little Book of Profitable TalesEugene Field
malady
- any disease or illness
- any unhealthy, morbid, or desperate conditiona malady of the spirit
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Word Origin
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
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Word Origin and History for malady
n.
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.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
malady
(măl′ə-dē)- A disease, disorder, or ailment.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.