Meaning of disease in English

disease

noun

/dɪˈziːz/ us

/dɪˈziːz/

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B1 [ C or U ]

(an) illness of people, animals, plants, etc., caused by infection or a failure of health rather than by an accident:

a contagious/infectious disease

a common/rare/incurable/fatal disease

outbreak of disease They reported a sudden outbreak of the disease in the south of the country.

symptom of a disease The first symptom of the disease is a very high temperature.

catch/contract a disease She has caught/contracted (= begun to have) a lung disease/disease of the lungs.

Starvation and disease have killed thousands of refugees.

[ C ]

something that is considered very bad in people or society:

The real disease affecting the country is inflation.

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Chickenpox is a very common disease among children.
Regular exercise reduces the risk of coronary heart disease.
There is no known cure for this disease .
The children were vaccinated against the major childhood diseases.
The disease is spread by the contamination of food and water by faeces.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Disease & illness - general words

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Difficult things and people

(Definition of disease from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

disease | American Dictionary

disease

noun [ C/U ]

/dɪˈziz/

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a condition of a person, animal, or plant in which its body or structure is harmed because an organ or part is unable to work as it usually does; an illness:

[ C ] Mumps is an infectious disease.

[ U ] He suffers from heart disease.

[ U ] Hundreds of thousands of trees died from Dutch elm disease.

(Definition of disease from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of disease

disease

A more rigorous analysis of the epidemiological impact of vaccination for meningococcal disease is essential for proper health economic estimates.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Thus, even if we were measuring the correct symptoms, we could expect that our purely categorical disease would be hidden within a continuous symptom distribution.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Older knowledge, perhaps because it has been relocated to regions that are damaged by the disease process, does not fare as well.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In the past, authors stressed the greater variability of the disease's prognosis, clinical findings and cell morphology.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

First, several simplifying assumptions surrounding the disease process and treatment were necessary to construct the model.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Instead, they focused on the dominant urban health discourse surrounding reducing the cases of contagious diseases and improving hygiene.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The interview included an open disease history, a checklist of signs and symptoms, and a structured questionnaire.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

One factor that has not, to our knowledge, been explicitly examined is the role of specific symptoms and disease intensity on transmission.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The average annualized number of outpatient visits was substantially higher for each disease state compared with the number of inpatient episodes.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Some of these compounds have been detrimental to the environment, and all too often the disease organisms being targeted have developed resistance.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Over the past five years, outstanding progress has been made in the development of therapeutic strategies targeting these diseases.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The main limitations in treating metastatic disease include poor vector transduction efficiencies and difficulties in targeting remote tumour cells with systemic vector delivery.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Such risk factors are generally considered non-modifiable at the time of disease onset, but may be targets for preventative strategies in the future.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

However, the use of such a powerful intervention may inhibit visits for milder diseases, possibly resulting in aggravation of the disease.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The number of breathless people is increasing as patients with all types of cardio-respiratory disease live longer.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

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These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with disease

disease

These are words often used in combination with disease.

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advanced disease

Pain is an uncommon symptom, except in advanced disease.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

age-related disease

A small but growing literature on the older driver supports the concept that age-related disease may interfere with the ease and safety of using many modes of transportation.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

airway disease

Associations of smoking with hospital-based care and quality of life in patients with obstructive airway disease.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

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What is the pronunciation of disease?

Translations of disease

in Chinese (Traditional)

病，疾病, （人或社會的）惡疾，弊病…

Meaning of disease in English

disease | American Dictionary

Examples of disease

Collocations with disease

disease

Translations of disease

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