From Middle English disese, from Anglo-Norman desese, from Old French desaise, from des- + aise.

• (RP) enPR: dĭ-zēzʹ IPA: /dɪˈziːz/
• (America) IPA: /dɪˈziz/, /dəˈziz/

disease

1. (medicine) An abnormal condition of a human, animal or plant that causes discomfort or dysfunction; distinct from injury insofar as the latter is usually instantaneously acquired.

   The tomato plants had some kind of disease that left their leaves splotchy and fruit withered.

   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act IV, scene iii], page 272 ↗, column 2:

     […] diſeaſes deſperate growne,
     By deſperate appliance are releeued,
     Or not at all.

   • November 22, 1787, James Madison Jr., Federalist No. 10

     The instability, injustice, and confusion, introduced into the public councils, have, in truth, been the mortal diseases under which popular governments have every where perished; […]

   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter V, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC ↗:

     Of all the queer collections of humans outside of a crazy asylum, it seemed to me this sanitarium was the cup winner. […] When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose.

2. (metaphorically) Any abnormal or harmful condition, as of society, people's attitudes, way of living etc.
   • 1955, The Urantia Book, Paper 134:6.7:

     War is not man's great and terrible disease; war is a symptom, a result. The real disease is the virus of national sovereignty.

3. Lack of ease; uneasiness; trouble; vexation; disquiet.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC ↗, stanza 40, page 422 ↗:
   • c. 1603–1606 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] His True Chronicle Historie of the Life and Death of King Lear and His Three Daughters. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Nathaniel Butter, […], published 1608, →OCLC ↗, [Act I, scene i] ↗:

     To ſhield thee from diſeaſes of the world, […]

• See Thesaurus:disease § Synonyms

• French: maladie, mal
• German: Krankheit, (infectious) Infektionskrankheit, Seuche (archaic)
• Italian: malattia, malanno, disturbo, morbo
• Portuguese: doença
• Russian: боле́знь
• Spanish: enfermedad, dolencia

disease (diseases, present participle diseasing; simple past and past participle diseased)

1. (obsolete) To cause unease; to annoy, irritate.
   • 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC ↗, Luke viij:[49], folio lxxxix, recto ↗:

     Whyll he yett ſpeake
     there cam won from the rulers off the ſynagogis houſſe
     which ſayde to hym: Thy doughter is deed
     diſeaſe not the maſter.

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC ↗, page 208 ↗:

     […] mote he ſoft himſelfe appeaſe,
     And fairely fare on foot, how euer loth;
     His double burden did him ſore diſeaſe.

2. To infect with a disease.