ailing
Americanadjective
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sickly; unwell.
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unsound or troubled.
a financially ailing corporation.
adjective
Etymology
Origin of ailing
Explanation
Someone who's ailing is sick. You might visit your ailing grandmother in the hospital. You can use the adjective ailing to describe someone who's very ill, or use it figuratively, to talk about "our ailing economy," or "the ailing school system." The next time you call in sick to work, you might say, "I can't come in today — I'm afraid I'm ailing." Ailing comes from the verb ail, "trouble or afflict," from the Old English eglan, "to trouble, plague, or pain."
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.
Similarly, Likho, a one-eyed Russian Blue, also was ailing when Kobilha took him in at 8 years old, but she wanted him anyhow.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
Instead of a caregiving crisis bringing families together out of shared love for an ailing parent, it’s tearing many of them apart.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
Relatedly, it has seemed Pinterest always has an area of advertiser demand that’s ailing just enough to curb growth.
From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026
Bank Indonesia already delivered an emergency rate hike to bolster the ailing rupiah, and markets will be keen to see if it does so again.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
“A finer pig there never was. He’d been ailing for a time, so I do suppose it was right to put him down.”
From "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool
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.
