illness

ill|ness

W3S2 [ˈılnıs] n [U and C]

a disease of the body or mind, or the condition of being ill

▪ She had all the normal childhood illnesses .

▪ I'd been told I'd been suffering from various illnesses .

▪ Her mother was just recovering from an illness .

▪ Have you ever had any serious illnesses ?

▪ He died in hospital yesterday after a short illness .

▪ patients with chronic illnesses

▪ Her husband was diagnosed with a terminal illness . (=doctors found that her husband had a terminal illness)

▪ Stress can cause mental illness .

▪ I've never missed a day's work through illness in my life.

▪ ways to improve your health and reduce the risk of illness

→↑disease

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COLLOCATES for sense 1

have an illness/suffer from an illness

recover from an illness

serious illness

minor illness

short/long illness

childhood illness

acute illness (=an illness that becomes serious very quickly)

chronic illness (=an illness that lasts a long time and cannot be cured)

fatal illness (=an illness which causes death)

terminal illness (=an illness which cannot be cured and that causes death, often slowly)

mental illness

the symptoms of an illness (=the things that show that someone has it)

through illness (=because of illness)

WORD CHOICE: illness, disease

Illness and disease are often used in the same way and are equally common in spoken English.

However, illness is more often used to refer to the length of time or state of being unwell : He died after a long illness. | if you are off school because of illness

!! Do not use illness to talk about less serious problems such as headaches or colds.

Disease is a particular kind of illness, especially one that spreads from one person to another or affects a particular part of your body : infectious diseases | heart disease

!! Disease can also be used to mean a lot of different diseases : Cigarette smoking causes death and disease.

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