Definition of ailment noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

ailment

noun

/ˈeɪlmənt/

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an illness that is not very serious
- childhood/common/minor ailments
- I got all the usual childhood ailments.
- Below is a list of common childhood ailments.
Synonyms disease
diseaseillness ▪ disorder ▪ infection ▪ condition ▪ ailment ▪ bugThese are all words for a medical problem.
disease a medical problem affecting humans, animals or plants, often caused by infection:
He suffers from a rare blood disease.
illness a medical problem, or a period of suffering from one:
She died after a long illness.
disease or illness?Disease is used to talk about more severe medical problems, especially specific conditions and those that affect particular organs: Crohn's/Parkinson's disease • heart/kidney/liver disease • heart/kidney/liver illness. Illness is used more generally and can refer to both severe and minor medical problems, and problems that affect mental health: a terminal/life-threatening illness • a mild/minor illness • mental illness • mental disease. Illness can be used about a period of time: a long/short illness • a long/short disease
disorder (rather formal) a condition that causes problems with the way part of the body or brain works:
a rare disorder of the liver
A disorder is generally not infectious. Disorder is often used in the names of specific conditions affecting the brain, for example attention deficit disorder, bipolar disorder or post-traumatic stress disorder. When it is used to talk about physical problems, it is often used with autoimmune, blood, bowel and kidney, and these are commonly serious, severe or rare.infection an illness that is caused by bacteria or a virus and that affects one part of the body:
a throat infection
condition a medical problem that you have for a long time because it is not possible to cure it:
a heart condition
ailment (rather formal) an illness that is not very serious:
childhood ailments
bug (informal) an infectious illness that is usually fairly mild:
a stomach bug
Patterns
- to have/suffer from a(n) disease/illness/disorder/infection/condition/ailment/bug
- to catch/contract/get/pick up a(n) disease/illness/infection/bug
Topics Health problemsc1
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adjective
- common
- minor
- trivial
- …
verb + ailment
- be afflicted with
- get
- have
- …
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