Definition of MALADY (original) (raw)
1
: a disease or disorder of the animal body
told by his physicians that he had a fatal malady—
Willa Cather
2
: an unwholesome or disordered condition
poverty, homelessness, and other social maladies
Synonyms
Examples of malady in a Sentence
in the olden days people were always suffering from some unknown malady
Recent Examples on the Web
These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Savvy promoters of abstinence, the WCTU had a broad reach and employed a variety of tactics to circulate their claims about the physical maladies and social harms caused by alcohol. —Elizabeth Marshall / Made By History, TIME, 23 Oct. 2024 In Haiti, people often go directly to a hospital to receive care for all sorts of maladies, and county officials and advocacy groups said many of the immigrants were unfamiliar with the U.S. system of seeing primary care doctors first or making appointments for treatment. —Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 18 Oct. 2024 Mental Illness in the Middle Ages In Europe in the Middle Ages, people often saw mental illness as a spiritual malady. —Discover Magazine, 18 Sep. 2024 Such images were tools of propaganda that romanticized the Caribbean as a utopia after decades of associating the region with savagery and malady. —Shameekia Shantel Johnson, ARTnews.com, 3 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for malady 
Word History
Etymology
Middle English maladie, from Anglo-French, from malade sick, from Latin male habitus in bad condition
First Known Use
13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Time Traveler
The first known use of malady was in the 13th century
Dictionary Entries Near malady
Cite this Entry
“Malady.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/malady. Accessed 19 Nov. 2024.
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Last Updated: 13 Nov 2024 - Updated example sentences
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