diseases

noun

plural of disease
as in illnesses
an abnormal state that disrupts a plant's or animal's normal bodily functioning they caught a rare disease while they were traveling in Africa and were sick for weeks

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of diseases Avoid watering over the leaves because that can lead to fungal diseases. — Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 26 June 2026 Floods, for example, often trigger outbreaks of diseases like cholera. — Maryanne Murray Buechner, Forbes.com, 2 July 2026 In the 1940s, the widespread use of penicillin allowed for the treatment of diseases that were once fatal. — Melissa Rudy, FOXNews.com, 3 July 2026 Health scores indicate how well a country keeps its people alive and well, like whether children are born and stay healthy, whether adults live long lives and if the incidence of preventable diseases is kept low. — Stephen Bagwell, The Conversation, 26 June 2026 So heading to Earth without boosting your immunity to local diseases means risking colossal embarrassment. — Richard Edwards, Space.com, 2 July 2026 Minerals such as calcium, manganese, and fluoride support bone health, helping to prevent or manage diseases like arthritis and osteoporosis. — Embry Roberts, Martha Stewart, 2 July 2026 Research has linked wildfire smoke to a range of long-term health issues, including respiratory problems, cardiovascular diseases and cancers. — Noah Haggerty, Los Angeles Times, 2 July 2026 And the condition has not yet made the list of diseases, such as Lyme disease and West Nile virus, tracked by the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System, in which states voluntarily inform federal health officials of case counts. — Erika Edwards, NBC news, 2 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for diseases
  1. illnesses
  2. ailments
  3. sicknesses
  4. ills
  5. conditions
  6. disorders
  7. fevers
Noun
  • Those with heart disease and respiratory illnesses, young children and older adults are more at risk.
    — Lauren Penington, Denver Post, 5 July 2026
  • Researchers know deaths and illnesses rise during heat waves, but the numbers are hard to track, because there aren't uniform requirements.
    — Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA Today, 3 July 2026
Definition of illnesses
Noun
  • The women wanted physicians who were disease preventers, and doctors who were attentive to the difficulties wrought by menopause, which have been increasingly found to leave women vulnerable to other ailments.
    — Melanie Thernstrom, New Yorker, 29 June 2026
  • Peterson had a chaotic lone season with the Jayhawks, filled with various injuries and ailments, but remained in contention for a top-3 pick the entire year.
    — Shreyas Laddha, Kansas City Star, 24 June 2026
Definition of ailments
Noun
  • At the end of the day, both doctors agree that hotel stays shouldn’t deter people from traveling altogether, since there are always ways to proactively minimize exposure and subsequent sicknesses.
    — Joey Skladany, Travel + Leisure, 30 June 2026
  • Olena started with the children, the most vulnerable refugees as well as the most likely vectors of new sicknesses in the theater.
    — James Verini, The Atlantic, 12 May 2026
Definition of sicknesses
Noun
  • Around the country, data centers have been blamed increasingly for a host of environmental ills.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 2 July 2026
  • That’s actually the theme of an essay that Masha Gessen, who writes often about Russia and its many ills, has asked.
    — Hanna Rosin, The Atlantic, 2 July 2026
Definition of ills
Noun
  • For sure, the old philosophy that all athletes with heart conditions should not play competitive sports is outdated and not correct.
    — Nicole Williams, AJC.com, 6 July 2026
  • Typically, El Niño is associated with wetter-than-normal conditions during the winter in Southern California.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 6 July 2026
Definition of conditions
Noun
  • Ibogaine is a powerful psychoactive compound that has been used for decades to treat substance use disorders.
    — Gavin Escott, USA Today, 6 July 2026
  • Keeping people with mental illnesses and substance use disorders out of the jail and prison system has been a decades-long struggle in the state.
    — Ariane Lange, Sacbee.com, 6 July 2026
Definition of disorders
Noun
  • Then anaplasmosis joined the fray, spreading fevers and chills of its own.
    — Burkhard Bilger, New Yorker, 29 June 2026
  • The worst is over—the fevers have broken, the tissues have dwindled, and everyone is slowly regaining their energy.
    — Hannah Nwoko, Parents, 28 June 2026
Definition of fevers

Browse Nearby Words

diseased
diseases
diseconomy
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Diseases.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/diseases. Accessed 8 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on diseases

Nglish: Translation of diseases for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of gambol

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List

One-Word Oxymorons: Bittersweet, Spendthrift, and More

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
hangman letters and game
Hangman Lightning Round Figure out which word fits in the blanks.
See All