ILLNESS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does illness mean? 

• ILLNESS (noun)
  The noun ILLNESS has 1 sense:

1. impairment of normal physiological function affecting part or all of an organism

  Familiarity information: ILLNESS used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ILLNESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Impairment of normal physiological function affecting part or all of an organism

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

illness; malady; sickness; unwellness

Hypernyms ("illness" is a kind of...):

health problem; ill health; unhealthiness (a state in which you are unable to function normally and without pain)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "illness"):

condition (an illness, disease, or other medical problem)

ague (a fit of shivering or shaking)

amyloidosis (a disorder characterized by deposit of amyloid in organs or tissues; often secondary to chronic rheumatoid arthritis or tuberculosis or multiple myeloma)

anuresis; anuria (inability to urinate)

catastrophic illness (severe illness requiring prolonged hospitalization or recovery; usually involves high costs for hospitals and doctors and medicines)

collapse; prostration (an abrupt failure of function or complete physical exhaustion)

aeroembolism; air embolism; bends; caisson disease; decompression sickness; gas embolism (pain resulting from rapid change in pressure)

food poisoning; gastrointestinal disorder (illness caused by poisonous or contaminated food)

lead poisoning; plumbism; saturnism (toxic condition produced by the absorption of excessive lead into the system)

disease (an impairment of health or a condition of abnormal functioning)

hypermotility (excessive movement; especially excessive motility of the gastrointestinal tract)

indisposition (a slight illness)

ozone sickness (illness that can occur to persons exposed to ozone in high-altitude aircraft; characterized by sleepiness and headache and chest pains and itchiness)

toxaemia; toxaemia of pregnancy; toxemia; toxemia of pregnancy (an abnormal condition of pregnancy characterized by hypertension and edema and protein in the urine)

growth ((pathology) an abnormal proliferation of tissue (as in a tumor))

Antonym:

wellness (a healthy state of wellbeing free from disease)

Derivation:

ill (affected by an impairment of normal physical or mental function)

 Context examples 

If we can vaccinate with this protein, it may allow us to protect individuals at highest risk for severe illness.

(People with type A blood at most risk of severe diarrhoea, SciDev.Net)

Patients with precancerous pancreatic lesions had more GPC1-positive exosomes in their blood than both healthy controls and patients with noncancer pancreatic illnesses like pancreatitis.

(Method for Early Detection of Pancreatic Cancer, NIH)

In your report, you mention the fact that insurance companies are ahead of everybody since they've excluded from civil responsibility insurance policies illnesses which could be linked to the use of mobile phones.

(Health threats caused by mobile phone radiation, EUROPARL TV)

Researchers have discovered in mice how one of the few genes definitively linked to schizophrenia, called SETD1A, likely confers risk for the illness.

(Schizophrenia risk gene linked to cognitive deficits in mice, National Institutes of Health)

Over the last 20 years, three families have been unsuspectingly linked by an unknown illness.

(Researchers discover new autoinflammatory disease and uncover its biological cause, National Institutes of Health)

In mouse studies, FluA-20 prevented infection or illness when the animals were exposed to four different influenza A viral subtypes that cause disease in humans.

(Human antibody reveals hidden vulnerability in influenza virus, National Institutes of Health)

Asthma is a chronic (long-term) illness that affects the lungs.

(Infant Exposure to Allergens May Help Prevent Wheezing, NIH)

Serious illness caused by being exposed to high doses of certain types of radiation, usually over a short period of time.

(Acute radiation sickness, NCI Dictionary)

Signs and symptoms appear in infancy or childhood and may be triggered during fasting, illness or exercise.

(Acyl-CoA Dehydrogenase, Long-Chain Deficiency, NCI Thesaurus)

A question about whether an individual accepts or has accepted their illness.

(Accepted Illness, NCI Thesaurus)