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

disease

noun

/dɪˈziːz/

[uncountable, countable] an illness affecting humans, animals or plants, often caused by infection
- heart/lung/liver disease
- In 19th-century England, infectious diseases were the principal cause of death.
- chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes
- health measures to prevent the spread of disease
- Smoking increases the risk of heart disease.
- It is not known what causes the disease.
- He suffers from a rare blood disease.
- Sailors who ate no fresh food contracted the disease.
- It's better to prevent disease by ensuring a clean water supply.
- to treat/cure a disease
- to spread/transmit a disease
- Cattle had to be slaughtered after an outbreak of the disease.
- patients with coronary heart disease
- cardiovascular/pulmonary/respiratory disease
see also lifestyle disease
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
Wordfinder
Collocations Illnesses
IllnessesBecoming ill
- catch a cold/an infectious disease/the flu/(British English) flu/pneumonia/a virus/(informal) a bug
- get (British English) ill/(North American English) sick/a disease/AIDS/breast cancer/a cold/the flu/(British English) flu/a migraine
- come down with a cold/the flu/(British English) flu
- contract a deadly disease/a serious illness/HIV/AIDS
- be infected with a virus/a parasite/HIV
- develop cancer/diabetes/a rash/an ulcer/symptoms of hepatitis
- have a heart attack/a stroke
- provoke/trigger/produce an allergic reaction
- block/burst/rupture a blood vessel
- damage/sever a nerve/an artery/a tendon
Being ill
- feel (British English) ill/nauseous/queasy
- be running (British English) a temperature/(North American English) a fever
- have a head cold/diabetes/heart disease/lung cancer/a headache/(British English) a high temperature/(North American English) a fever
- suffer from asthma/malnutrition/frequent headaches/nausea/bouts of depression/post-traumatic stress disorder
- be laid up with/ (British English) be in bed with a cold/the flu/(British English) flu/a migraine
- nurse a cold/a headache/a hangover
- battle/fight cancer/depression/addiction/alcoholism
Treatments
- examine a patient
- diagnose a condition/disease/disorder
- be diagnosed with cancer/diabetes/schizophrenia
- prescribe/be given/be on/take drugs/medicine/medication/pills/painkillers/antibiotics
- treat somebody for cancer/depression/shock
- have/undergo an examination/an operation/surgery/a kidney transplant/therapy/chemotherapy/treatment for cancer
- have/be given an injection/(British English) a flu jab/(North American English) a flu shot/a blood transfusion/a scan/an X-ray
- cure a disease/an ailment/cancer/a headache/a patient
- prevent the spread of disease/further outbreaks/damage to the lungs
- be vaccinated against the flu/(British English) flu/the measles/(British English) measles/polio/smallpox
- enhance/boost/confer/build immunity to a disease
Wordfinder
Extra Examples
- Children are still dying in their millions from preventable diseases.
- Humans can contract the disease, which is treatable with antibiotics.
- the problem of controlling pests and disease with organic gardening methods
- Gene therapy was first pursued in an attempt to cure genetic diseases.
- We face the challenge of finding new ways to treat diseases.
- Quarantine is important for animal disease prevention.
- Drugs can slow down the progression of the disease, but not cure it altogether.
- She has a serious lung disease.
- He suffered from coronary heart disease
- She got a rare liver disease when she was only twenty.
- Lupus is an autoimmune disease.
- Such unhygienic practices spread disease.
- He was diagnosed with Lyme disease following a bite from a tick.
- The disease has been eradicated from the world.
- The disease has killed 500 people so far this year.
- The disease is transmitted by mosquitoes.
- The government must take action to fight this deadly disease.
- the difficulty of diagnosing and treating these diseases
- They want to stop the disease from spreading.
- Tobacco lowers the body's resistance to disease.
- You can't catch the disease just from physical contact.
- a disease caused by a vitamin deficiency
- a disease of the digestive system
- childhood diseases such as mumps and chickenpox
- fears of a new killer disease
- fears of an outbreak of Legionnaire's disease
- new drugs which help to control the disease
- the number of people with this disease
- the overall incidence of disease in the world
- the risk of coronary heart disease
- the ticks that carry the disease
- The problem was finally diagnosed as heart disease.
- This is an extremely infectious disease.
- protection against sexually transmitted diseases
Topics Health problemsa2
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adjective
- common
- obscure
- rare
- …
… of disease
- outbreak
verb + disease
- have
- suffer from
- catch
- …
disease + verb
- spread
- affect somebody
- afflict somebody
- …
preposition
- with a/the disease
- disease in
- disease of
- …
phrases
- a cure for a disease
- the incidence of (a) disease
- a patient with a disease
- …
See full entry
[countable] (formal) something that is very wrong with people’s attitudes, way of life or with society
- Greed is a disease of modern society.

Word OriginMiddle English (in the sense ‘lack of ease; inconvenience’): from Old French desaise ‘lack of ease’, from des- (expressing reversal) + aise ‘ease’.

See disease in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee disease in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English

Check pronunciation: disease

Other results

All matches

Nearby words

sufficiently

adverb

From the Word list

OPAL written words

Oxford Learner's Dictionaries Word of the Day