Standard Lemma guide

morbidity

noun · 9 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: M AO0 R B IH1 D AH0 T IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The quality of being unhealthful or diseased, sometimes including the cause.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The quality of being morbid; an attitude or state of mind marked by gloom.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

The incidence of a disease, as a rate of a population which is affected.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: medicine, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

An occurrence of illness or disease, or a single symptom of that illness.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable

Topics: medicine, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

Adverse effects caused by a medical treatment such as surgery.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable

Topics: medicine, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

The sickness rate of a population.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: business, demographics, demography, insurance

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

noun

Meaning 7

the quality of being unhealthful and generally bad for you

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: unwholesomeness, morbidness

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: quality

Narrower terms: harmfulness, noisomeness, noxiousness, perniciousness, toxicity, deadliness, lethality, jejunity, jejuneness, putrescence, rottenness, unhealthfulness

8

noun

Meaning 8

an abnormally gloomy or unhealthy state of mind

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • his fear of being alone verges on morbidity

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: morbidness

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: cognitive state, state of mind

9

noun

Meaning 9

the relative incidence of a particular disease

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: incidence, relative incidence

History

Etymology

Recorded since 1721; from morbid + -ity, from Latin morbidus (“diseased”), from morbus (“disease”), from the root of morī (“to die”) or from Proto-Indo-European *mer- (“to rub, pound, wear away”).

Across languages

Translations

41 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Azerbaijani: xəstəlik — quality of being unhealthful or diseased
  • Chinese Mandarin: 病態 /病态 (bìngtài) — quality of being unhealthful or diseased
  • Dutch: morbiditeit — quality of being unhealthful or diseased
  • Dutch: ziekelijkheid — quality of being unhealthful or diseased
  • Finnish: sairaus — quality of being unhealthful or diseased
  • Finnish: sairaalloisuus — quality of being unhealthful or diseased
  • French: morbidité — quality of being unhealthful or diseased
  • Georgian: ავადობის (avadobis) — quality of being unhealthful or diseased
  • German: Morbidität — quality of being unhealthful or diseased
  • Greek: νοσηρός (nosirós) — quality of being unhealthful or diseased
  • Kazakh: аурушаңдық (auruşañdyq) — quality of being unhealthful or diseased
  • Portuguese: morbilidade — quality of being unhealthful or diseased
  • Romanian: morbiditate — quality of being unhealthful or diseased
  • Spanish: enfermo — quality of being unhealthful or diseased
  • Spanish: morbido — quality of being unhealthful or diseased
  • Finnish: synkkyys — quality of being morbid
  • Finnish: synkkämielisyys — quality of being morbid
  • Bulgarian: заболеваемост (zabolevaemost) — incidence of a disease as a rate
  • Chinese Mandarin: 发病率 (fābìnglǜ) — incidence of a disease as a rate
  • Dutch: morbiditeit — incidence of a disease as a rate
  • Dutch: ziektecijfer — incidence of a disease as a rate
  • Finnish: sairastuvuus — incidence of a disease as a rate
  • French: morbidité — incidence of a disease as a rate
  • German: Morbidität — incidence of a disease as a rate
  • Hebrew: תַּחְלוּאָה — incidence of a disease as a rate
  • Hungarian: megbetegedési arányszám — incidence of a disease as a rate
  • Italian: morbosità — incidence of a disease as a rate
  • Portuguese: morbilidade — incidence of a disease as a rate
  • Romanian: morbiditate — incidence of a disease as a rate
  • Russian: заболева́емость (zabolevájemostʹ) — incidence of a disease as a rate
  • Swedish: morbiditet — incidence of a disease as a rate
  • Chinese Mandarin: 发病 (fābìng) — occurrence of illness or disease, or a single symptom of that illness
  • Czech: morbidita — occurrence of illness or disease, or a single symptom of that illness
  • Dutch: morbiditeit — occurrence of illness or disease, or a single symptom of that illness
  • Dutch: ziekte — occurrence of illness or disease, or a single symptom of that illness
  • Dutch: ziekelijkheid — occurrence of illness or disease, or a single symptom of that illness
  • Finnish: sairastuminen — occurrence of illness or disease, or a single symptom of that illness
  • Hebrew: תַּחְלוּאָה — occurrence of illness or disease, or a single symptom of that illness
  • Portuguese: morbilidade — occurrence of illness or disease, or a single symptom of that illness
  • Romanian: morbiditate — occurrence of illness or disease, or a single symptom of that illness
  • Finnish: sairastavuus — sickness rate of a population