disease

disease
    n 1: an impairment of health or a condition of abnormal
         functioning
    

Disease \Dis*ease"\, n. [OE. disese, OF. desaise; des- (L. dis-)
   + aise ease. See {Ease}.]
   1. Lack of ease; uneasiness; trouble; vexation; disquiet.
      [Obs.]
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            So all that night they passed in great disease.
                                                  --Spenser.
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            To shield thee from diseases of the world. --Shak.
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   2. An alteration in the state of the body or of some of its
      organs, interrupting or disturbing the performance of the
      vital functions, and causing or threatening pain and
      weakness; malady; affection; illness; sickness; disorder;
      -- applied figuratively to the mind, to the moral
      character and habits, to institutions, the state, etc.
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            Diseases desperate grown,
            By desperate appliances are relieved. --Shak.
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            The instability, injustice, and confusion introduced
            into the public counsels have, in truth, been the
            mortal diseases under which popular governments have
            every where perished.                 --Madison.
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   {Disease germ}. See under {Germ}.

   Syn: Distemper; ailing; ailment; malady; disorder; sickness;
        illness; complaint; indisposition; affection. --
        {Disease}, {Disorder}, {Distemper}, {Malady},
        {Affection}. Disease is the leading medical term.
        Disorder mean? much the same, with perhaps some slight
        reference to an irregularity of the system. Distemper is
        now used by physicians only of the diseases of animals.
        Malady is not a medical term, and is less used than
        formerly in literature. Affection has special reference
        to the part, organ, or function disturbed; as, his
        disease is an affection of the lungs. A disease is
        usually deep-seated and permanent, or at least
        prolonged; a disorder is often slight, partial, and
        temporary; malady has less of a technical sense than the
        other terms, and refers more especially to the suffering
        endured. In a figurative sense we speak of a disease
        mind, of disordered faculties, and of mental maladies.
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Disease \Dis*ease"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Diseased}; p. pr. &
   vb. n. {Diseasing}.]
   1. To deprive of ease; to disquiet; to trouble; to distress.
      [Obs.]
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            His double burden did him sore disease. --Spenser.
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   2. To derange the vital functions of; to afflict with disease
      or sickness; to disorder; -- used almost exclusively in
      the participle diseased.
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            He was diseased in body and mind.     --Macaulay.
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55 Moby Thesaurus words for "disease":
      affection, affliction, ailment, bane, blight, bug, bugbear, burden,
      calamity, cancer, complaint, condition, contagion, contaminate,
      crushing burden, curse, death, debility, decrepitude, destruction,
      disability, disorder, epizootic, evil, feebleness, grievance, harm,
      ill, illness, infect, infection, infirmity, infliction, malady,
      malaise, misery, murrain, nemesis, open wound, pest, pestilence,
      plague, running sore, scourge, sickliness, sickness, syndrome,
      taint, thorn, torment, unhealthiness, vexation, virus, visitation,
      woe