Table of Contents
Definition of Acute Disease
(noun) A disease that has a rapid onset or short duration, presenting with distinct symptoms and return to pre-onset condition is likely.
Examples of Acute Disease
Acute Disease Pronunciation
Syllabification: a·cute dis·ease
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /uh-kyOOt di-zEEz/
- British English – /uh-kyOOt di-zEEz/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /əˈkjut dɪˈziz/
- British English – /əˈkjuːt dɪˈziːz/
Usage Notes
- Plural: acute diseases
- Acute diseases are studied in epidemiology and medical sociology.
- Acute disease is contrasted to chronic disease.
Additional Information
- Medical Sociology Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Word origin of “acute” and “disease” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
- Bradby, Hannah. 2009. Medical Sociology: An Introduction. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
- Dobson, Mary J. 2007. Disease: The Extraordinary Stories behind History’s Deadliest Killers. London: Quercus.
- Kerr, Anne. 2004. Genetics and Society: A Sociology of Disease. London: Routledge.
- McGann, P. J., and David J. Hutson, eds. 2011. Sociology of Diagnosis. Bingley, United Kingdom: Emerald.
Related Terms
- bureaucracy
- cancer cluster
- chronic disease
- deficiency disease
- disease
- endemic disease
- health
- infectious disease
- medical sociology
- medicalization of deviance
- occupational disease
Works Consulted
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 5th ed. 2011. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Cockerham, William C., ed. 2010. The New Blackwell Companion to Medical Sociology. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Cockerham, William C., and Ferris Joseph Ritchey. 1997. Dictionary of Medical Sociology. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Kendall, Diana. 2011. Sociology in Our Times. 8th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Kent, Michael. 2007. The Oxford Dictionary of Sports Science & Medicine. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
Macmillan. (N.d.) Macmillan Dictionary. (https://www.macmillandictionary.com/).
Martin, Elizabeth, ed. 2010. Concise Medical Dictionary. 8th ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
Merriam-Webster. (N.d.) Merriam-Webster Dictionary. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/).
Oxford University Press. (N.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. (https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/).
Cite the Definition of Acute Disease
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “acute disease.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved January 20, 2025 (https://sociologydictionary.org/acute-disease/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
acute disease. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/acute-disease/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “acute disease.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed January 20, 2025. https://sociologydictionary.org/acute-disease/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“acute disease.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 20 Jan. 2025. <https://sociologydictionary.org/acute-disease/>.