Meanings
plural morbidities
- countableuncountableThe quality of being unhealthful or diseased, sometimes including the cause.
- countableuncountableThe quality of being morbid; an attitude or state of mind marked by gloom.
He taught him how to be superior to human foibles and how to give a godlike laugh at himself as a way of fending off morbidity. He did all the things for him that a woman is grateful for, except that Magnus is a man.
1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy - countablemedicineAdverse effects caused by a medical treatment such as surgery.
- countableuncountablebusinessThe sickness rate of a population.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounthe quality of being unhealthful and generally bad for you
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*mer-“to rub, pound, wear away”
- Latinmorbidus“diseased”
- Englishmorbidity
Recorded since 1721; from morbid + -ity, from Latin morbidus (“diseased”), from morbus (“disease”), from the root of morī (“to die”) or from Proto-Indo-European *mer- (“to rub, pound, wear away”).
More words from Latin, Proto-Indo-European
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian заболеваемост
- заболеваемост (zabolevaemost)incidence of a disease as a rate
Chinese Mandarin 病態 /病态, 发病率
- 病態 /病态 (bìngtài)quality of being unhealthful or diseased
- 发病率 (fābìnglǜ)incidence of a disease as a rate
- 发病 (fābìng)occurrence of illness or disease, or a single symptom of that illness
Czech morbidita
- morbiditaoccurrence of illness or disease, or a single symptom of that illness
Dutch morbiditeit, ziekelijkheid
- morbiditeitquality of being unhealthful or diseased
- ziekelijkheidquality of being unhealthful or diseased
- morbiditeitincidence of a disease as a rate
- ziektecijferincidence of a disease as a rate
- morbiditeitoccurrence of illness or disease, or a single symptom of that illness
- ziekteoccurrence of illness or disease, or a single symptom of that illness
- ziekelijkheidoccurrence of illness or disease, or a single symptom of that illness
Finnish sairaus, sairaalloisuus
- sairausquality of being unhealthful or diseased
- sairaalloisuusquality of being unhealthful or diseased
- synkkyysquality of being morbid
- synkkämielisyysquality of being morbid
- sairastuvuusincidence of a disease as a rate
- sairastuminenoccurrence of illness or disease, or a single symptom of that illness
- sairastavuussickness rate of a population
French morbidité, morbidité
- morbiditéquality of being unhealthful or diseased
- morbiditéincidence of a disease as a rate
German Morbidität, Morbidität
- Morbiditätquality of being unhealthful or diseased
- Morbiditätincidence of a disease as a rate
Greek νοσηρός
- νοσηρός (nosirós)quality of being unhealthful or diseased
Hebrew תַּחְלוּאָה, תַּחְלוּאָה
- תַּחְלוּאָהincidence of a disease as a rate
- תַּחְלוּאָהoccurrence of illness or disease, or a single symptom of that illness
Hungarian megbetegedési arányszám
- megbetegedési arányszámincidence of a disease as a rate
Italian morbosità
- morbositàincidence of a disease as a rate
Portuguese morbilidade, morbilidade
- morbilidadequality of being unhealthful or diseased
- morbilidadeincidence of a disease as a rate
- morbilidadeoccurrence of illness or disease, or a single symptom of that illness
Romanian morbiditate, morbiditate
- morbiditatequality of being unhealthful or diseased
- morbiditateincidence of a disease as a rate
- morbiditateoccurrence of illness or disease, or a single symptom of that illness
Russian заболева́емость
- заболева́емость (zabolevájemostʹ)incidence of a disease as a rate
Spanish enfermo, morbido
- enfermoquality of being unhealthful or diseased
- morbidoquality of being unhealthful or diseased
Swedish morbiditet
- morbiditetincidence of a disease as a rate
Cite this entry
morbidity. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/morbidity
“morbidity.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/morbidity. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “morbidity,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/morbidity.
Source: morbidity on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.