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Definition
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1
2
: a harmful development (as in a social institution)
sees the city's crime as a disease
3
obsolete
: trouble
Synonyms
Examples of disease in a Sentence
He suffers from a rare genetic disease.
a disease of the mind
Thousands die of heart disease each year.
They are working to stop the spread of disease in rural areas.
The article cites intolerance as one of the most dangerous of society's diseases.
He sees crime as a disease that too often plagues the poor and disadvantaged.
Recent Examples on the Web
Leukemia, a disease of the blood and bone marrow, disrupts the body's ability to produce normal blood cells.
—
Josh Hammer, Newsweek, 16 Feb. 2025
Show creator Samantha Strauss said the character of Lucy was important to depict what a lot of people feel when fighting a disease: not listened to, not in control and not acknowledged as a full person.
—
Madeline Holcombe, CNN, 16 Feb. 2025
How long that takes depends on the course of the disease and farmer operations.
—
Andrew J. Campa, Los Angeles Times, 16 Feb. 2025
The agencies fund critical research in diseases such as diabetes, cancer and dementia.
—
Dp Opinion, The Denver Post, 15 Feb. 2025
See all Example Sentences for disease 
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Word History
Etymology
Middle English disese, from Anglo-French desease, desaise, from des- dis- + eise ease
First Known Use
14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 3
Time Traveler
The first known use of disease was
in the 14th century
Phrases Containing disease
- acute disease
- Addison's disease
- Alzheimer disease
- Alzheimer's disease
- Bang's disease
- Bright's disease
- brittle bone disease
- caisson disease
- Canavan disease
- Canavan's disease
- Castleman disease
- Castleman's disease
- cat scratch disease
- celiac disease
- Chagas disease
- Christmas disease
- chronic disease
- chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- chronic wasting disease
- citrus greening disease
- communicable disease
- contagious disease
- coronary artery disease
- coronary disease
- coronary heart disease
- coronavirus disease 2019
- Creutzfeld-Jakob disease
- Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
- Crohn disease
- Crohn's disease
- Cushing's disease
- deficiency disease
- Dutch elm disease
- factitious disease
- fifth disease
- flesh-eating disease
- foot-and-mouth disease
- gastroesophageal reflux disease
- Gaucher disease
- Gaucher's disease
- graft-versus-host disease
- Guinea worm disease
- hand, foot and mouth disease
- Hansen's disease
- heart disease
- hemolytic disease of the newborn
- Hodgkin's disease
- hoof-and-mouth disease
- Huntington disease
- Huntington's disease
- infectious disease
- inflammatory bowel disease
- Johne's disease
- Kawasaki disease
- Kawasaki's disease
- kissing disease
- Legionnaire's disease
- Lou Gehrig's disease
- Lyme disease
- mad cow disease
- Marek's disease
- mental disease
- milky disease
- milky spore disease
- Ménière's disease
- mucocutaneous lymph node disease
- Newcastle disease
- new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
- Paget's disease
- Paget's disease of bone
- Parkinson disease
- Parkinson's disease
- pelvic inflammatory disease
- Pierce's disease
- polycystic kidney disease
- Pott's disease
- Powassan disease
- Powassan virus disease
- prion disease
- pullorum disease
- sexually transmitted disease
- social disease
- Tay-Sachs disease
- tsutsugamushi disease
- variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
- venereal disease
- von Willebrand disease
- von Willebrand's disease
- whirling disease
- Wilson's disease
- woolsorter's disease
Dictionary Entries Near disease
Cite this Entry
“Disease.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disease. Accessed 21 Feb. 2025.
Kids Definition
Medical Definition
disease
noun
dis·ease
diz-ˈēz
: an impairment of the normal state of the living animal or plant body or one of its parts that interrupts or modifies the performance of the vital functions, is typically manifested by distinguishing signs and symptoms, and is a response to environmental factors (as malnutrition, industrial hazards, or climate), to specific infective agents (as worms, bacteria, or viruses), to inherent defects of the organism (as genetic anomalies), or to combinations of these factors : sickness, illness
called also morbus
compare health sense 1More from Merriam-Webster on disease
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