Meanings
nounillness (countable and uncountable, plural illnesses)
plural illnesses
- countableAn instance (episode) of a disease or poor health.
a mild illness
3 more examples
Her grandmother had passed away after a long illness.
suffer form a severe illness
This further exacerbated the diagnostic challenge posed by undifferentiated febrile illness during a “twindemic” of both COVID-19 and dengue, as both illnesses could potentially present with febrile syndromes.
2022 May 7, Liang En Wee, Edwin Philip Conceicao, Jean Xiang-Ying Sim, May Kyawt Aung, Aung Myat Oo, et al., “Dengue and COVID-19: Managing Undifferentiated Febrile Illness during a ‘Twindemic’”, in Tropical medicine and infectious disease, →DOISynonyms: sickness
- uncountableA state of bad health or disease.
Many working days this year have been lost through illness.
1 more example
Illness is a wholistic reality, just as health is wholistic, and healing is the process of moving from illness to health.
2012, Anne Westhues, Canadian Social Policy: Issues and Perspectives
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAn instance (episode) of a disease or poor health.
Similar
More synonyms by meaning
nounimpairment of normal physiological function affecting part or all of an organism
Similar
Opposite
Broader
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Afrikaans siekte
- siektean instance of a disease or poor health
Ancient Greek νόσος
- νόσος (nósos)an instance of a disease or poor health
Arabic مَرَض, دَاء
- مَرَض (maraḍ)an instance of a disease or poor health
- دَاء (dāʔ)an instance of a disease or poor health
Bengali রোগ, অসুস্থতা
- রোগ (rōg)an instance of a disease or poor health
- অসুস্থতা (ośusthota)an instance of a disease or poor health
- ব্যাধি (bêdhi)an instance of a disease or poor health
Bulgarian бо́лест, заболя́ване
- бо́лест (bólest)an instance of a disease or poor health
- заболя́ване (zaboljávane)an instance of a disease or poor health
- боледуване (boleduvane)a state of bad health or disease
Catalan malaltia, malaltia
- malaltiaan instance of a disease or poor health
- malaltiaa state of bad health or disease
Chinese Mandarin 疾病, 病症
- 疾病 (jíbìng)an instance of a disease or poor health
- 病症 (bìngzhèng)an instance of a disease or poor health
- 病 (bìng)an instance of a disease or poor health
- 患病期間 /患病期间 (huànbìng qījiān)an instance of a disease or poor health
- 病情 (bìngqíng)an instance of a disease or poor health
- 病疾 (bìngjí)an instance of a disease or poor health
- 病 (bìng)a state of bad health or disease
- 生病 (shēngbìng)a state of bad health or disease
Czech nemoc
- nemocan instance of a disease or poor health
Danish sygdom, syg
- sygdoman instance of a disease or poor health
- syga state of bad health or disease
Dutch ziekte, aandoening
- ziektean instance of a disease or poor health
- aandoeningan instance of a disease or poor health
Esperanto afekcio, malsano
- afekcioan instance of a disease or poor health
- malsanoan instance of a disease or poor health
Estonian haigus
- haigusan instance of a disease or poor health
Finnish sairaus, sairaus
- sairausan instance of a disease or poor health
- sairausa state of bad health or disease
French maladie, maladie
- maladiean instance of a disease or poor health
- maladiea state of bad health or disease
German Krankheit
- Krankheitan instance of a disease or poor health
Greek αρρώστια, ασθένεια
- αρρώστια (arróstia)an instance of a disease or poor health
- ασθένεια (asthéneia)an instance of a disease or poor health
- νοῦσος (noûsos)an instance of a disease or poor health
- ασθένεια (asthéneia)a state of bad health or disease
Hawaiian maʻi
- maʻian instance of a disease or poor health
Hebrew מַחֲלָה
- מַחֲלָה (makhalá)an instance of a disease or poor health
Hindi रोग, बीमारी
- रोग (rog)an instance of a disease or poor health
- बीमारी (bīmārī)an instance of a disease or poor health
- अस्वस्थता (asvasthatā)an instance of a disease or poor health
- मरज़ (maraz)an instance of a disease or poor health
- मर्ज़ (marz)an instance of a disease or poor health
- व्याधि (vyādhi)an instance of a disease or poor health
- रोग (rog)a state of bad health or disease
Hungarian betegség, betegség
- betegségan instance of a disease or poor health
- betegséga state of bad health or disease
Icelandic sjúkdómur
- sjúkdómuran instance of a disease or poor health
Indonesian penyakit
- penyakitan instance of a disease or poor health
Irish breoiteacht, othras
- breoiteachtan instance of a disease or poor health
- othrasan instance of a disease or poor health
- galaran instance of a disease or poor health
- othrasa state of bad health or disease
- galara state of bad health or disease
Italian malattia, malattia
- malattiaan instance of a disease or poor health
- malattiaa state of bad health or disease
Japanese 病気, 疾病
- 病気 (byōki)an instance of a disease or poor health
- 疾病 (shippei)an instance of a disease or poor health
Korean 질병, 병
- 질병 (jilbyeong)an instance of a disease or poor health
- 병 (byeong)an instance of a disease or poor health
Latin morbus, aegror
- morbusan instance of a disease or poor health
- aegroran instance of a disease or poor health
Latvian slimība
- slimībaan instance of a disease or poor health
Lithuanian liga
- ligaan instance of a disease or poor health
Malay penyakit, sakit
- penyakitan instance of a disease or poor health
- sakita state of bad health or disease
Māori māuiuitanga
- māuiuitangaa state of bad health or disease
Norwegian Bokmål sykdom, sjukdom
- sykdoman instance of a disease or poor health
- sjukdoman instance of a disease or poor health
- sjukean instance of a disease or poor health
- sykean instance of a disease or poor health
Polish choroba
- chorobaan instance of a disease or poor health
Portuguese doença, enfermidade
- doençaan instance of a disease or poor health
- enfermidadean instance of a disease or poor health
- maladiaan instance of a disease or poor health
- enfermidadea state of bad health or disease
- doençaa state of bad health or disease
Punjabi ਬਿਮਾਰੀ
- ਬਿਮਾਰੀ (bimārī)an instance of a disease or poor health
Romanian boală
- boalăan instance of a disease or poor health
Russian боле́знь, хворь
- боле́знь (boléznʹ)an instance of a disease or poor health
- хворь (xvorʹ)an instance of a disease or poor health
- неду́г (nedúg)an instance of a disease or poor health
Scottish Gaelic euslaint
- euslainta state of bad health or disease
Slovak choroba, nemoc
- chorobaan instance of a disease or poor health
- nemocan instance of a disease or poor health
Spanish enfermedad, enfermedad
- enfermedadan instance of a disease or poor health
- enfermedada state of bad health or disease
Swahili ugonjwa, maradhi
- ugonjwaan instance of a disease or poor health
- maradhian instance of a disease or poor health
- ugonjwaa state of bad health or disease
Swedish sjukdom
- sjukdoman instance of a disease or poor health
Tagalog sakit
- sakitan instance of a disease or poor health
Tamil நோய், ரோகம்
- நோய் (nōy)an instance of a disease or poor health
- ரோகம் (rōkam)an instance of a disease or poor health
Thai โรค, โรคา
- โรค (rôok)an instance of a disease or poor health
- โรคา (roo-kaa)an instance of a disease or poor health
- โรคภัย (rôok-pai)an instance of a disease or poor health
- พยาธิ (pá-yâat)an instance of a disease or poor health
Turkish hastalık, maraz
- hastalıkan instance of a disease or poor health
- marazan instance of a disease or poor health
Ukrainian хворо́ба, захво́рювання
- хворо́ба (xvoróba)an instance of a disease or poor health
- захво́рювання (zaxvórjuvannja)an instance of a disease or poor health
- неду́га (nedúha)an instance of a disease or poor health
Urdu بِیماری, مَرْض
- بِیماری (bīmārī)an instance of a disease or poor health
- مَرْض (marz)an instance of a disease or poor health
- مَرَض (maraz)an instance of a disease or poor health
- روگ (rog)an instance of a disease or poor health
Vietnamese bệnh, sự đau yếu
- bệnhan instance of a disease or poor health
- sự đau yếuan instance of a disease or poor health
- sự ốman instance of a disease or poor health
Welsh salwch
- salwchan instance of a disease or poor health
Yiddish קראַנקײַט
- קראַנקײַט (krankayt)an instance of a disease or poor health
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with illness
All rhymes →Cite this entry
APA
illness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/illness
MLA
“illness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/illness. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “illness,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/illness.
Source: illness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.