ill ‧ ness S3 W3 /ˈɪlnəs, ˈɪlnɪs/ BrE AmE noun [uncountable and countable]
a disease of the body or mind, or the condition of being ill:
She had all the normal childhood illnesses.
Her mother was recovering from a serious illness.
I’ve never missed a day’s work through illness.
ways to improve your health and reduce the risk of illness
⇨ ↑ disease
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ verbs
▪ have an illness
When did you first find out that you had the illness?
▪ suffer from an illness
She suffers from a rare illness.
▪ get/develop an illness
She developed the illness when she was in her 50s.
▪ contract an illness formal (=get an illness by catching it from another person)
He contracted the illness while he was working abroad.
▪ recover from an illness
It took several months for him to recover from his illness.
▪ be diagnosed with an illness (=be found by doctors to have an illness)
Her husband had just been diagnosed with a terminal illness.
▪ cause/lead to illness
Inadequate hygiene can lead to illness.
▪ prevent illness
Vaccines have been successful in preventing illness.
■ ADJECTIVES/NOUN + illness
▪ serious/severe
His illness is more severe than the doctors first thought.
▪ minor (=not serious)
He suffered a succession of minor illnesses.
▪ fatal (=causing death quite quickly)
She developed a fatal illness.
▪ life-threatening (=likely to cause death)
Doctors say that his illness isn’t life-threatening.
▪ terminal (=causing death eventually, and not possible to cure)
At that point the illness was thought to be terminal.
▪ incurable (=not possible to cure)
The films tells the sad story of a young boy with an incurable illness.
▪ acute (=becoming serious very quickly)
A lot of illnesses can be either acute or chronic.
▪ chronic (=that lasts a long time, and cannot be cured)
Diabetes is an example of a chronic illness.
▪ a long/short illness
She nursed him through his long illness.
|
Arthur died following a short illness.
▪ a debilitating illness (=that makes you very weak)
His last years were ruined by a debilitating illness.
▪ a childhood illness
Measles is a common childhood illness.
▪ a mental/psychiatric illness
We provide specialist care for young people with mental illnesses.
■ phrases
▪ the symptoms of an illness
Symptoms of the illness include vomiting and severe headaches.
▪ a period of illness
He returned to work after a period of illness.
■ COMMON ERRORS
► Do not say ' a heavy illness '. Say a serious illness or a severe illness .
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ illness something wrong with your health which makes you feel ill:
Her husband was in hospital for six months with a serious illness.
▪ disease a particular illness, especially one that spreads to other people easily or that affects one part of your body:
childhood diseases such as measles and chickenpox
|
heart disease
▪ infection an illness that is caused by ↑ bacteria or a ↑ virus :
His cough got worse and worse and became a chest infection.
▪ condition a health problem that affects you permanently or for a long time:
a medical condition such as asthma
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a heart condition
▪ problem [usually after a noun] something that is wrong with a particular part of your body or your health in general:
a serious back problem
|
health problems
▪ trouble [singular, only after a noun] illness or pain that affects a particular part of your body:
I’ve had a bit of stomach trouble.
▪ disorder formal an illness that prevents a particular organ of your body from working properly, or affects the way you behave:
a liver disorder
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a blood disorder
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Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder.
■ an illness that is not very serious
▪ bug informal an illness that spreads to other people very easily but that is not very serious:
There’s a bug going round at school and a lot of the children are absent.
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a flu bug
▪ complaint medical an illness that affects a particular part of your body, especially one that is not very serious – used by doctors:
a minor skin complaint
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Deakin suffers from a back complaint called arachnoiditis.
▪ ailment /ˈeɪlmənt/ formal an illness that affects a particular part of your body, especially one that is not serious:
People often go to their doctor about relatively minor ailments.
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The ointment is used to treat ailments such as small wounds and insect bites.
■ the general state of being ill
▪ illness the general state of being ill:
Stress is emerging today as a major cause of illness.
▪ sickness the state of being ill, especially when it stops you working:
absence from work due to sickness
▪ ill health formal the state of being ill, usually for a long period of time:
Research shows that there is a link between air pollution and ill health.