Verb collocations referring to illnesses and diseases

Catch	A cold, a flu, a chill, a pneumonia
Contract (formal)	A disease, malaria, typhoid
Develop (formal)	Lung/breast cancer, diabetes, AIDS, arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease
Suffer from	Asthma, hay fever, backache
Have an attack of	Bronchitis, asthma, hay fever
Be diagnosed with	Cancer, leukemia, autism
Sustain (formal)	Major/minor/serious injuries

Illness – a health problem that you are suffering from and which makes you feel ill.

Disease– a particular illness that has a medical name.

infectious disease (easily passed from one another by breathing)

contagious disease (easily passed from one another by touch)

Virus – a small living that causes infectious illnesses, or a type of infectious disease.

Bug– inf. An illness that people catch very easily from each other but not very serious.

Infection – an illness that is caused by bacteria and that affects one part of your body, such as ears, throat, lungs or skin (throat, ear, lung etc. infection).

Condition – a problem that affects someone’s health permanently or over a long period of time.

suffer from a condition

Ailment – form. An illness or condition, especially one that affects a particular part of your body.

Disorder – an illness that prevents part of your body from working properly or affects the way you behave, esp. one that is permanent or continues over a period of time

Complaint – an illness that affects a particular part of your body, esp. one that is not very serious.

What’s the treatment

Take Medicine Pills Tablets sedatives

Be given/be on/take Antibiotics Drugs Medication painkillers

Have/undergo An operation Surgery A transplant

Have/be given Acupuncture An anaesthetic A blood transfusion An injection A scan An X-ray

Have/be given/undergo Hypnosis Therapy Treatment

My poor friend Gina is terminally ill (she will die soon). She suffersexcruciating/unbearable pain most of the time. Apparently it’s an incurable disease that runs in her family (can be inherited).

Paul annoys everyone at work. He takes days off even for the most trivial/minor ailments.

It’s a serious disease, but probably not life-threatening.

For a few days it was acutely/intensely painful, but now it’s just a dull ache. My doctor prescribed me some tablets and they relieved/alleviated/eased the pain.

Leona was taken ill the other day.She’s in hospital.

I had a heavy cold and a splitting headache, so I wasn’t in a good mood.

Phrasal Verbs

Break down –become mentally\physically ill after an unpleasant experience.	Pass away –to die
Break out –start suddenly (for a war, fire)	Pass out –suddenly become unconscious
Bring on cause (an illness, etc.)	Pull through –survive (a serious illness)
Come down with –start to suffer from a minor illness	Put down –kill a sick\old animal
Come round– become conscious again	Put on –gain weight
Cut down on –reduce an amount, do less of (smoking)	Put out –dislocate a shoulder, etc. by making a bone move from its usual place
Feel up to –feel well enough to do	Shake off– get rid of smth
Fight off –to try hard in order to get rid of	Swell up –to become larger or rounder
Get over –recover from an illness	Throw up –vomit
Give up –stop doing smth you do regularly	Wear off –stop being effective (for a drug)

Date: 2016-01-03; view: 2227

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