disease

Definitions of Disease

1. (noun) An abnormal disorder of function in a impairment of health or a condition of abnormal functioning.
2. (noun) A social condition considered by some as abnormal or harmful.

Types of Disease

• acute disease
• alcoholism
• chronic disease
• deficiency disease
• endemic disease
• infectious disease
• occupational disease

Disease Pronunciation

Pronunciation Usage Guide

Syllabification: dis·ease

Audio Pronunciation

International Phonetic Alphabet

• American English – /dɪˈziz/
• British English – /dɪˈziːz/

Usage Notes

• Plural: diseases
• Diseases are generally chronic or acute.
• Epidemiology is the branch of medical science dealing with the transmission and control of disease.
• Also called:
  • illness
  • medical condition
  • sickness
• Also informally called:
  • affliction
  • ailment
  • malady
• Historically called:
  • morbus
  • rot

Additional Information

• Word origin of “disease” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
• Banaszak-Holl, Jane, Sandra Levitsky, and Mayer N. Zald. 2010. Social Movements and the Transformation of American Health Care. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Bradby, Hannah. 2009. Medical Sociology: An Introduction. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
• Carr, Deborah S., ed. 2009. Encyclopedia of the Life Course and Human Development. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA.
• Cockerham, William C., ed. 1992. Medical Sociology. 5th ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
• 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.
• Purdy, Michael, and David Banks, eds. 2001. The Sociology and Politics of Health: A Reader. London: Routledge.
• Rogers, Anne, and David Pilgrim. 2005. A Sociology of Mental Health and Illness. 3rd ed. Maidenhead, England: Open University Press.
• Scambler, Graham, and Sasha Jane Scambler, eds. 2010. New Directions in the Sociology of Chronic and Disabling Conditions: Assaults on the Lifeworld. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Weiss, Gregory L., and Lynne E. Lonnquist. 2017. The Sociology of Health, Healing, and Illness. 9th ed. New York: Routledge.

Related Terms

• acute disease
• chronic disease
• epidemiology
• health
• population
• power
• role
• society

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Works Consulted

Bender, David A. 2014. A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition. 4th ed. New York: Oxford University Press.

Bradby, Hannah. 2009. Medical Sociology: An Introduction. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Hughes, Michael, and Carolyn J. Kroehler. 2011. Sociology: The Core. 10th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Kent, Michael. 2007. The Oxford Dictionary of Sports Science & Medicine. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press.

Last, John M, ed. 2007. A Dictionary of Public Health. New York: Oxford University Press.

Macionis, John, and Kenneth Plummer. 2012. Sociology: A Global Introduction. 4th ed. Harlow, England: Pearson Education.

Macmillan. (N.d.) Macmillan Dictionary. (https://www.macmillandictionary.com/).

Martin, Elizabeth, ed. 2010. Concise Medical Dictionary. 8th ed. New York: Oxford University Press.

Martin, Elizabeth, and Robert Hine, eds. 2008. A Dictionary of Biology. 6th ed. New York: Oxford University Press.

Martin, Elizabeth, and Tanya A. McFerran, eds. 2014. A Dictionary of Nursing. 6th ed. New York: Oxford University Press.

Oxford University Press. (N.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. (https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/).

Thompson, William E., and Joseph V. Hickey. 2012. Society in Focus: An Introduction to Sociology. 7th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/).

Cite the Definition of Disease

ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “disease.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved April 27, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/disease/).

APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)

disease. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/disease/

Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “disease.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed April 27, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/disease/.

MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)

“disease.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/disease/>.