Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. A disease, a disorder, or an ailment.
- n. An unwholesome condition: the malady of discontent.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. Any ailment or disease of the human body; especially, a lingering or deep-seated disorder.
- n. A moral or mental defect or disorder.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. Any disease of the human body; a distemper, disorder, or indisposition, proceeding from impaired, defective, or morbid organic functions; especially, a lingering or deep-seated disorder.
- n. A moral or mental defect or disorder.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A physical disorder or disease; sickness or distemper of any kind; especially, a chronic, deep-seated, or dangerous disease.
- n. Hence, moral or mental disorder; any disordered state or condition: as, social maladies.
- n. Synonyms Infirmity, Distemper, etc. (see disease); complaint, ailment.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- n. any unwholesome or desperate condition
- n. impairment of normal physiological function affecting part or all of an organism
Etymologies
Middle English maladie, from Old French, from malade, sick, from Latin male habitus, in poor condition : male, badly; see mel-3 in Indo-European roots + habitus, past participle of habēre, to hold; see ghabh- in Indo-European roots.
(American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)Middle English maladie, from Old French maladie ("sickness, illness, disease"), from malade ("ill, sick"), from Latin male habitus ("ill-kept, not in good condition"), 1st century AD. See also malice and habit. (Wiktionary)
whichbe commented on the word malady
My Malady
November 19, 2008
qroqqa commented on the word malady
A surprising etymology for the second half. Abstract noun (-y) derivative of French malade "ill; sick person", earlier malabde < *malabido < Classical male habitum "having it badly".
August 20, 2008
sonofgroucho commented on the word malady
This sounds much more elegant than a disease!
October 15, 2007