: having or suffering from an illness or injury
providing care for his ailing mother
trying to rest her ailing knee/back
a person in ailing health
—often used figurativelyan ailing company
an ailing economy
Examples of ailing in a Sentence
when his ailing wife had to go to a nursing home, he visited her every day
he was ailing from some sort of infection in his eye that made it look all red and puffy
Recent Examples on the Web
Streeting’s Cabinet position became a personal mission to fix an ailing National Health Service because of his own battle with kidney cancer.
—
ABC News, 17 May 2026
Bergstrom competed all throughout last year with an ailing knee, a season after she was sidelined at state due to a stress fracture in her foot.
—Kyle Newman, Denver Post, 15 May 2026
In this new show, unlikely friends Marsha and Wendy wrestle with the mysteries of the teenage heart (and dragons), while jumping between alchemy class, dodgeball and theater club in a melodrama about the unusual humans and mutants that attend an ailing public boarding school.
—Kevin Giraud, Variety, 11 May 2026
Karelina had traveled to Russia to visit her elderly grandparents, while Kurmasheva returned to support her ailing mother.
—Christopher Cann, USA Today, 10 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for ailing
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
ABC News, 17 May 2026
Bergstrom competed all throughout last year with an ailing knee, a season after she was sidelined at state due to a stress fracture in her foot.
—Kyle Newman, Denver Post, 15 May 2026
In this new show, unlikely friends Marsha and Wendy wrestle with the mysteries of the teenage heart (and dragons), while jumping between alchemy class, dodgeball and theater club in a melodrama about the unusual humans and mutants that attend an ailing public boarding school.
—Kevin Giraud, Variety, 11 May 2026
Karelina had traveled to Russia to visit her elderly grandparents, while Kurmasheva returned to support her ailing mother.
—Christopher Cann, USA Today, 10 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for ailing
Cite this Entry
“Ailing.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ailing. Accessed 21 May. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
