Collocation Dictionary

Try "happy" or "love"

Searching for...

No matching words found

Try a different search term or browse the dictionary

Common collocations with illness in American Collocation

illness noun

US /ˈɪlnəs/

serious

critical
debilitating
life-threatening
serious
severe

Have you had a serious illness in the past six months?

not serious

mild
minor

Many minor illnesses, such as colds and flu, are caused by a virus.

becoming serious very quickly

acute

There was a special area where accidents and cases of acute illness could be treated.

lasting a long time

chronic
lingering
long
long-standing
long-term

Nocturnal enuresis (bed-wetting) is the most common chronic childhood illness.

that cannot be cured

fatal
life-limiting
terminal

Hospices are institutions that care for people with terminal illnesses.

getting worse over time

degenerative
progressive

Alcoholism is a progressive illness, which only gets worse.

affecting your mind

depressive
mental
psychiatric
psychotic
stress-related

Most people are likely to suffer mental illness at some point in their lives.

a work-related/stress-related/pregnancy-related/smoking-related illness.

affecting children

childhood

The leaflet gives information on how to deal with minor childhood illnesses.

have an illness

experience
have
suffer
suffer from

Over half a million people in the UK suffer from stress-related illness.

start to have an illness

catch
contract
develop
get

He died shortly after the war from an illness he had contracted in the prisoner-of-war camp.

bear an illness

bear
endure

She died after a long illness which she bore with great patience and dignity.

recognize and treat an illness

cure
diagnose
manage
treat

Managing chronic illness in elderly patients is one of the main tasks of the general practitioner.

The pharmacist can give you advice on treating minor illnesses.

fight or recover from an illness

cope with
deal with
fight
get over
overcome
recover from

I am taking vitamin and zinc tablets to get over this illness.

pretend to have an illness

fake
feign

She took time off work, feigning illness and not answering the phone.

die as a result of an illness

die from

Pearson died from a long-term illness in 1998.

happen

arise
occur
strike

Accidents and illnesses often occur when people are stressed.

affect someone

affect someone
afflict someone

Asthma is the most common chronic illness affecting children worldwide.

cause someone to be unable to live normally

handicap someone
incapacitate someone
weaken someone

How will you manage financially if you are incapacitated by illness?

have a particular effect

cause something
mean something
result in something

Serious mental illness often results in social isolation.

happen as a result of something

be caused by something
result from something

He died after a short illness resulting from an accident.

become worse

progress
worsen

The pain usually gets worse as the illness progresses.

cause a lot of problems for someone

beset someone
blight something
plague someone

Since March last year, he has been plagued by two serious illnesses.