disease

disease
/dI'zi:z/ noun
1 (C, U) an illness or unhealthy condition in your body, especially one caused by infection: eye/liver/kidney etc disease: Heart disease runs in our family. | cause disease: filthy insanitary conditions that cause disease | infections/contagious disease (=easily passed from one person to another): vaccination against infectious diseases such as typhoid | suffer from a disease (=have a disease): She suffers from a rare disease of the central nervous system. | catch/contract a disease (=get a disease by being infected)
2 (C) something that is seriously wrong with society or with someone's mind, behaviour etc: Loneliness is a disease of our urban communities.
—see also: heart disease, social disease — diseased adjective: diseased muscles | a diseased plant USAGE NOTE: DISEASE WORD CHOICE: disease, illness Though illness and disease are often used in the same way and are equally common in spoken English, illness is really the state, or length of time, of being unwell (usually caused by some disease).). She died after a long illness. | How many working days have you missed through illness? It is diseases that have medical names, are related to parts of the body, and can be caught, carried and passed on if they are infectious: a kidney/sexually-transmitted disease/infectious disease/Alzheimer's disease. However, you would usually talk about mental illness or a terminal/critical illness.

Longman dictionary of contemporary English. 2004.

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  • disease — n Disease, disorder, condition, affection, ailment, malady, complaint, distemper, syndrome denote a de ranged bodily state usually associated with or amounting to a loss of health. Disease in its usual and broadest use implies an impairment of… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • Disease — Dis*ease , n. [OE. disese, OF. desaise; des (L. dis ) + aise ease. See {Ease}.] 1. Lack of ease; uneasiness; trouble; vexation; disquiet. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] So all that night they passed in great disease. Spenser. [1913 Webster] To shield thee …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • disease — [di zēz′] n. [ME disese, inconvenience, trouble, sickness < OFr desaise, discomfort < des , DIS + aise, EASE] 1. any departure from health; illness in general 2. a particular destructive process in an organ or organism, with a specific… …   English World dictionary

  • Disease — Dis*ease , v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Diseased}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Diseasing}.] 1. To deprive of ease; to disquiet; to trouble; to distress. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] His double burden did him sore disease. Spenser. [1913 Webster] 2. To derange the vital… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • disease — (n.) early 14c., discomfort, inconvenience, from O.Fr. desaise lack, want; discomfort, distress; trouble, misfortune; disease, sickness, from des without, away (see DIS (Cf. dis )) + aise ease (see EASE (Cf. ease)). Sense of sickness, illness in… …   Etymology dictionary

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  • disease — diseasedly, adv. diseasedness, n. /di zeez /, n., v., diseased, diseasing. n. 1. a disordered or incorrectly functioning organ, part, structure, or system of the body resulting from the effect of genetic or developmental errors, infection,… …   Universalium

  • disease — I (New American Roget s College Thesaurus) Condition of ill health Nouns 1. disease, illness, sickness, ailment, ailing; morbidity, infirmity, ailment, indisposition; complaint, disorder, malady; functional disorder. 2. condition, affliction,… …   English dictionary for students

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