disease

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Condition of ill health

Nouns

1. disease, illness, sickness, ailment, ailing; morbidity, infirmity, ailment, indisposition; complaint, disorder, malady; functional disorder.

2. condition, affliction, disorder, syndrome; pre-existing condition; environmental or ecological illness, toxic tort, sick- or tight-building syndrome; delicacy, loss of health, invalidism, cachexia, atrophy, marasmus; dehydration; addiction, dependence, alcoholism (see drinking, drugs); edema, dropsy; enuresis, bedwetting, incontinence; irritable bowel syndrome, spastic colon; brain damage; paresis; [nervous, heat, etc. ] prostration; nausea; acidosis, alkalosis; carpal tunnel syndrome, writer's cramp; housemaid's knee; coronary; cough; combat fatigue; simulator sickness, barfogenesis; fibrosis; malnutrition; infection, plague; balding, alopecia; colic; shock; motion sickness, carsickness, seasickness, mal de mer, airsickness, jet lag, altitude sickness or discomfort, aeroembolism, decompression sickness, bends, caisson disease; amblyopia (see blindness); amnesia (see oblivion); dysentery, diarrhea; diaper rash; hemorrhoids, piles; anorexia nervosa, binge-purge syndrome, bulimia; malnutrition, pica; obesity; menorrhagia, menstrual bleeding; anoxia; goiter; hangnail, ingrown toenail; astigmatism (see vision); paralysis, diplegia, sclerosis; allergy, allergic reaction, atopy, hay fever; vertigo; heat exhaustion or prostration, heatstroke, sunstroke; distemper; priapism; psilosis, sprue; visitation, attack, seizure, stroke; backache, lumbago, sciatica, sponsylosis; fit, cramp, convulsion; tendonitis, tennis elbow, surfer's knee; varicose veins; decay (see deterioration). Slang, grapes.

3.

a. symptom, sign; tumescence, detumescence; toxemia, toxicosis, [lead, mercury, etc. ] poisoning; putrescence (see odor); neuralgia, nephralgia (see pain); bruit, crepitus; adhesion, ankylosis; anesthesia.

b. tumor, growth, fibroma, fibrosarcoma, lymphoma, teratoma, hematoma, neoplasm, polyp; ecchymosis, black-and-blue mark, bruise, lividity, contusion; callus, bunion, corn, plantar wart, clubbing; eruption, rash, efflorescence, papule, hives, urticaria, breaking out, inflammation, swelling; sore, lesion, tubercle, ulcer, chancre, abscess, bubo, cyst, wen, furuncle, boil, cold sore, blister, vesicle, growth, bedsore, granuloma; pimple, blackhead, pustule, comedo, pock; swelling, carbuncle, rot, canker, cancrum, mortification, corruption, gangrene; acne, rosacea, seborrhea; wart, verruca; lentigo, liver spot, mole; scar, cicatrix, scab; gallstone, kidney stone, calculus, concretion; flush, mottling; jaundice; dandruff, scurf; chapping. Slang, zit, goober, Irish button, poulain.

c. hemolysis, high or low blood pressure, hypertension, hemorrhage, hyper- or hypoglycemia, ischemia; necrosis; hyperplasia; hyper- or hypothermia; fever, pyrexia, chills, shivers, tremor, dizziness, malaise; goose bumps or flesh, horripilation; itching, pruritus; poliosis; hydrocephalus; perspiration, sweating, diaphoresis.

d. indigestion, dyspepsia, heartburn, pyrosis, colic, constipation, irregularity, dyspepsia, indigestion, stomachache, diarrhea, runs; bad breath, halitosis; belch, breaking of wind, flatulence, flatus, gas, turista; uremia, albuminaria; vomiting, regurgitation, emesis. Informal, burp, collywobbles, mulligrubs, gullion, runs, movies. Slang, fart, backdoor trots, Delhi belly, Montezuma's revenge.

e. angina, chest pain, arrhythmia, bradycardia, tachycardia, cardiac arrest, fibrillation, heart murmur, palpitation.

f. headache, cephalalgia, migraine; insomnia, sleeplessness; anxiety, hysteria, mania, illusion, confusion, incoherence, toxic shock syndrome, Munich syndrome, Gulf War syndrome.

g. apnea, asthma, asphyxiation, breathlessness, tachypnea, dyspnea, bronchospasm, crepitation, rale, hiccup, stridor; choking; caries, cavity; nosebleed, epistaxis; earache, otalgia; toothache; cyanosis, tinnitus.

h. ataxia, atony, atrophy, attrition, emaciation, underweight, enervation, exhaustion, fatigue, prostration, torpor, neurasthenia; cachexia, collapse, blackout, fainting, syncope; unconsciousness, coma; senescence, senility (see age); [morbid] obesity, overweight; convulsion, paroxysm, spasm, stitch, cramp, crick, eclampsia, tetany, tic, economy class syndrome.

i. cough, tussis, sneeze, catarrh, blennorrhagia, empyema, suppuration, phlegm, sputum, rheum, mucus, postnasal drip.

4. mental illness, catalepsy, catatonia, delirium, breakdown, debility (see insanity).

5. (diseases)

a. (immune system) autoimmune disease, acquired immune deficiency syndrome, AIDS.

b. (diseases of blood) Addison's disease, agranulocytosis, anemia, arteriosclerosis, atheroma, atherosclerosis, blood poisoning, septicemia, toxemia, bacteremia, hypoglycemia, leukemia, phlebitis, puerperal fever, childbed fever, sickle cell anemia, sleeping sickness, encephalitis, hemophilia, nephrosis, Raynaud's disease, thalassemia, thrombocytosis, thromboembolism, thrombosis.

c. (glandular disease) adenitis, adenocarcinoma, bilirubinemia, nephritis, kidney disease, Bright's disease, cat-scratch disease, cyrrhosis, Cushing's disease, cystic fibrosis, elephantiasis, Epstein-Barr syndrome, mononucleosis, glandular fever, filariasis, Graves' disease, hepatitis, Hodgkin's disease, hyper- or hypothyroidism, mastitis, prostatitis, reticulosis, scrofula, tularemia. Informal, kissing disease.

d. (infectious diseases) malaria, ague, blackwater fever, blastomycosis, botulism, amebiasis, amebic dysentery, [bubonic] plague, black death, Ebola virus, brucellosis, chickenpox, varicella, childbed fever, cholera, cowpox, dengue, diabetes [mellitus or insipidus], diphtheria, frambesia, yaws, rubella, roseola, German measles, leprosy, Hansen's disease, Lassa fever, mumps, paratyphoid fever, Q fever, smallpox, variola, strep throat, typhoid fever, typhus, yellow fever, athlete's foot, tinea.

e. (brain disorders) Alzheimer's disease, stroke, apoplexy, cerebrospinal fever, spotter fever, encephalitis, epilepsy, Hunt-ington's chorea, meningitis, relapsing fever, Rocky Mountain spotted fever.

f. (respiratory disease) anthrax, asbestosis, black or miner's lung, pneumonoconiosis, brown lung, byssinosis, [common] cold, consumption, emphysema, influenza, flu, grippe, legionnaires' disease, mesothelioma, pleurisy, pneumonia, old man's friend, rheumatic fever, sandfly fever, silicosis, trench mouth, tuberculosis, pneumonitis.

g. (gastrointestinal disease) appendicitis, cellulitis, colitis, Crohn's disease, diverticulitis, dysentery, enteritis, gastric ulcer, gastritis, gastroenteritis, hookworm, ileitis, kala-azar, peptic ulcer, peritonitis, schistosomiasis, snail fever, celiac disease, fluxes.

h. (bones and joints) arthritis, gout, myeloma, osteoarthritis, osteomyelitis, osteoporosis, podagra, rheumatoid arthritis, rheumatism.

i. (heart disease) cardiovascular disease, endocarditis, cardiac arrest, cardiac stenosis, cardiomyopathy, arrhythmia, carditis, congestive heart failure, coronory heart disease, heart attack, coronary or myocardial infarction, coronary occlusion or thrombosis, endocarditis, pericarditis, rheumatic heart disease, Barlow's syndrome.

j. (cancer) cancer, carcinoma, Kaposi's sarcoma, lung cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, melanoma.

k. (nutritional disorder) beriberi, food poisoning, botulism, kwashiorkor, pellagra, rickets, salmonella poisoning, scurvy, hepatitis.

1. (eye disease) blepharitis, conjunctivitis, trachoma, pinkeye, glaucoma, keratitis, sty, cataract.

m. (fungal disease) candidiasis, thrush, mycosis.

n. (skin disease) dermatitis, eczema, carbuncle, dracontiasis, erysipelas, herpes [simplex or zoster], icthyosis, impetigo, lupus, miliaria, prickly heat, scabies, scleroderma, psoriasis. Slang, crotch-rot, creeping crud, jock itch, dhobie itch.

o. (tooth or gum disease) caries, periodontal disease, pyorrhea.

p. (genital and urinary disease) urethritis, vaginitis, cervicitis; venereal disease, VD, sexually transmitted disease, STD, chlamydia, gonorrhea, crablouse, cystitis, genital herpes, orchitis, syphilis, specific stomach, tabes dorsalis, Informal, social disease, dose. Slang, clap, crud, load, blue balls, French disease, old Joe, gentleman's complaint. See sex.

q. (nervous disorders) chorea, St. Vitus's dance, chronic fatigue syndrome, epilepsy, grand orpetit mal, rabies, hydrophobia, polio[myelitis], infantile paralysis, tetanus, lockjaw, Lou Gehrig's disease, Lyme disease, multiple sclerosis, MS, neuritis, neuropathy, Parkinson's disease, parkinsonism, radiation sickness, herpes zoster, shingles, Tourette's syndrome, narcolepsy.

r. (tissue disease) collagen disease, lupus, rheumatic fever, rheumatoid arthritis, sclerodoma, coryza, gingivitis, glioma, laryngitis, whooping cough, pertussis, pharyngitis, quinsy, sinusitis, tonsilitis.

s. (diseases of children) crib death, sudden infant death syndrome, SIDS, Tay-Sachs disease, croup, Reye's syndrome, scarlet fever, scarlatina.

t. (ear disease) Meniere's syndrome, otitis, otosclerosis, adenoma.

u. (muscular disease) muscular dystrophy, myastheniagravis, rheumatism, bursitis.

v. (infestations) pediculosis, tapeworm, hookworm, trichinosis, ringworm. Slang, crabs.

6. invalid, patient, case, shut-in; inpatient, outpatient; terminal patient; cripple, handicapped person, amputee, paralytic; leper, consumptive, epileptic. Slang, gimp, gork.

7. (study of illness) pathology, etiology, therapeutics, diagnosis, prognosis, epidemiology.

8. (disease-causing situation) insalubrity, insalubriousness, unhealthiness; taint, pollution, infection, contagion, septicity, toxicity, epidemic, endemic; plague, pestilence, pox, scourge; allergen, carcinogen, toxin; carrier; fungus; pathogen, germ, microbe, microorganism, ameba, bacterium, virus, staphylococcus, streptobacillus, streptococcus, arbovirus, saprophyte; vector, parasite, infestation, rickettsia[e].

Verbs

1. be ill, ail, run a temperature; suffer, labor under, be affected or afflicted with; complain of; droop, flag, languish, halt; sicken, peak, pine; keep [to] one's bed; feign sickness, malinger; catch, pick up, contract, or come down with (a disease), fall or take sick or ill, catch one's death of. Informal, feel bad or awful.

2. disease, sicken, indispose, derange, attack; lay up; fester; infect, contaminate; poison; infest.

Adjectives

1. diseased, ailing, ill (of), taken ill, seized with; indisposed, unwell, sick, feverish, flushed, febrile, squeamish, queasy, poorly, seedy, under the weather; laid up, confined, bedridden, invalided, in the hospital, on the sick list, in sick bay (naut.); ambulatory; out of health or sorts; valetudinary; emergent, urgent, routine. Informal, off one's feed, green around the gills.

2. unsound, unhealthy; sickly, rheumy, phthisic, scorbutic, tubercular, an[a]emic, cadaverous, delicate, infirm, drooping, flagging, lame, palsied, paralytic, dyspeptic, weak (see impotence); crippled, halt, halting; decrepit; decayed, deteriorated; incurable, terminal, moribund (see death); in declining health; in a bad way, in danger, prostrate. See weakness.

3. pathogenic, insalubrious, unhealthful, morbid, gangrenous, tainted, vitiated, contaminated, poisoned, poisonous, venomous; noxious, toxic, septic, virulent, malignant; harmful, unsanitary.

4. degenerative, progressive; irreversible; life-threatening, [non]fatal; congenital, genetic; iatrogenic, idiopathic; psychomotor, psychosomatic; infectious, communicable, contagious, endemic, pandemic, epidemic (see transfer).

Phrases — feed a cold and starve a fever; illness tells us what we are.

Quotations — Illness is the night-side of life (Susan Sontag), I now begin a journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life (Ronald Reagan), The thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to (Shakespeare), Illness is not something a person has. It's another way of being (Jonathan Miller), Ask not what disease the person has, but rather what person the disease has (Oliver Sacks).

Antonyms, see health.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

Syn. sickness, malady, ailment, illness, indisposition, unhealthiness, disorder, condition, complaint, spell, distemper, unsoundness, infirmity, affection, visitation, morbidity, pathological case, psychosomatic illness, epidemic, plague, pestilence, infection, virus, contagion, affliction, complication, syndRome, fever, nervous disorder, functional disorder, pathological condition, attack, seizure, collapse, breakdown, pathology, symptomatology, bug*, temperature*; see also illness 1 .

Ant. health*, strength, vigor.

Specific diseases include --- diseases affecting various organs or the body generally: cancer, ulcer, shock, paresis, paralysis, focal infection, atrophy, psittacosis, chicken pox, cholera, diphtheria, malaria, measles, German measles, mumps, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Lyme disease, Legionnaires' disease, rabies, scarlet fever, scarLatina, smallpox, toxic-shock syndRome, tularemia, typhoid fever, typhus, leprosy, hepatitis, yellow fever; venereal or social diseases: gonorrhea, clap*, dose*; herpes, AIDS, chlamydia, genital warts, syphilis, French disease*, maladie anglaise* (French), English disease*, pox*; diseases affecting the brain and nervous system: encephalitis, sleeping sickness, meningitis, aphAsia, stroke, Alzheimer's disease, hemiplegia, Reye's syndRome, brain tumor, poliomyelitis, polio, infantile paralysis, sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's disease, multiple sclerosis, MS, delirium tremens, D.T.'s*; diseases affecting the respiratory tract: bronchitis, rhinitis, common cold, sniffles*, cough, influenza, flu, Asian flu, Hong Kong flu, laryngitis, pleurisy, viral pneumonia, pulmonary pneumonia, phthisis, tonsillitis, emphysema, strep throat*, sinusitis, croup, tuberculosis, TB, whooping cough; diseases affecting the digestive system: acidosis, ulcer, appendicitis, Bright's disease, colitis, diabetes, diarrhea, constipation, diverticulitis, dysentery, anasarca, dropsy, gravel, jaundice; diseases affecting the circulatory system: angina pectoris, high blood pressure, hypertension, cystic fibrosis, hemorrhage, hardening of the arteries, hypertension, heart murmur, palpitations, arteriosclerosis, atherosclerosis, coronary thrombosis; skin diseases: athlete's foot, boils, warts, eczema, psoriasis, erysipelas, dermatitis, scabies, ringworm, trench foot, acne; diseases of the joints and muscles: arthritis, osteoporosis, bends, cramp, charley horse*, crick*; rheumatism, lumbago; diseases of the eye: cataracts, glaucoma, conjunctivitis, pink eye, trachoma; allergies: hay fever, rose fever, asthma, hives; diseases of the endocrine glands: hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, progeria, hyperpituitarism, hypopituitarism; diseases common to animals and birds: anthrax, black leg, blind staggers, bloat, cholera, colic, distemper, encephalitis, hydrophobia, rabies, heaves, hoof and mouth disease, glanders, milk sickness, pneumonitis, roup, spavin, trichomoniasis; diseases common to plants: blight, rot, rust, scale, smut, wilt; see also complex 1 , insanity 1 . Syn.- disease may apply generally to any deviation of the body from its normal or healthy state, or it may refer to a particular disorder with a specific cause and characteristic symptoms; condition and affection refer to a disorder of a specific organ or part [ a heart condition , an affection of the spleen ] ; malady usually refers to a deep-seated chronic disease, frequently one that is ultimately fatal; ailment refers to a chronic, annoying disorder of whatever degree of seriousness [ the minor ailments of the aged ]

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) n.

sickness, illness, affliction, ailment, malady, disorder, ill health, condition, syndrome, *bug, debility, infection, virus, infirmity, pathology, plague. ''The taxes laid upon this wretched life.''—Lord Chesterfield. ''Death's servant.''—Francis Rous. ''Fear made manifest on the body.''—Mary Baker Eddy.

WORD FIND

• blood: anemia, hemophilia, leukemia, pernicious anemia, sickle-cell anemia

• bone: osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, rickets

• brain and nervous system: Alzheimer’s, aphasia, apoplexy (stroke), encephalitis, epilepsy, Huntington’s chorea, hydrocephalus, meningitis, multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinson’s disease, wet brain

• bubonic plague: Black Death

• cat: FAIDS, Feline Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

• cause of: virus, germ, contagion, microbe, bacillus, pathogen

• circulatory: aneurysm, arteriosclerosis, atherosclerosis, hypertension, ischemia, peripheral vascular disease, phlebitis, thrombosis

• contagious: chicken pox, diptheria, measles, tuberculosis, plague, whooping cough

• deficiency: scurvy, beriberi, pellagra, rickets

• digestive: appendicitis, cirrhosis of the liver, colitis, Crohn’s disease, diabetes, diverticulitis, dysentery, gastroenteritis, gallstones, hepatitis, hiatal hernia, jaundice, pancreatitis, peptic ulcer, typhoid fever

• dog: distemper, heartworm, mange, rabies

• ear: tinnitus, vertigo

• eye: cataract, conjunctivitis, detached retina, glaucoma, lazy eye, pinkeye, retinitis pigmentosa, strabismus, stye, trachoma

• flu: influenza, grippe

• food poisoning: botulism, salmonella, trichinosis

• German measles: rubella

• germ destroyer: antibiotic, antibody

• gums: gingivitis, periodontal disease, pyorrhea

• heart: angina pectoris, arrhythmia, athletic heart syndrome, cardiac arrest, congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease, heart attack, heart murmur, ischemic heart disease, mitral valve prolapse, myocardial infarction, pericarditis, rheumatic heart disease, tachycardia

• identification: diagnosis

• imagined: hypochondriasis

• immune dysfunction: AIDS, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

• joints: arthritis, gout, rheumatism

• kissing disease: mononucleosis

• livestock: anthrax, foot-and-mouth disease, listeriosis, mange, mastitis

• lockjaw: tetanus

• lungs, breathing: apnea, asthma, black lung disease, bronchitis, cystic fibrosis, dyspnea, emphysema, pleurisy, pneumonia, tuberculosis

• mononucleosis, form of: Epstein-Barr syndrome

• muscles: muscular dystrophy, myasthenia gravis, tendinitis, myopathy

• nose: rhinitis, sinusitis

• origin: etiology

• peculiar to or found in only one region: endemic

• predicted outcome: prognosis

• recurring: chronic

• sexually transmitted: venereal disease, herpes, AIDS, gonorrhea (*clap), genital warts, chlamydia, syphilis.

• skin: carbuncle, dermatitis, eczema, hives, impetigo, lupus, psoriasis, rosacea, scabies, vitiligo

• spine, curvature of: scoliosis

• spreading: contagious

• spreading rapidly: epidemic

• strep throat, related to: rheumatic fever, scarlet fever

• swollen salivary glands: mumps

• tick, transmitted by: Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever

• tropical: malaria, sprue, dengue fever, leprosy, yellow fever

• warning symptom: prodrome

• widespread: pandemic

see brain, cancer, heart, neurosis

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun A pathological condition of mind or body: ailment, complaint, disorder, ill, illness, infirmity, malady, sickness. See HEALTH.