Illness vs. Condition: Know the Difference
By Shumaila Saeed || Updated on December 25, 2023
Illness refers to a disease or period of sickness, while condition is a broad term for any state of health, including chronic or long-term states.
Key Differences
Illness generally refers to a state of poor health, typically involving symptoms and signs of a disease, whereas condition is a broader term that can refer to any state of being, health-related or otherwise. Illness is often temporary and treatable, while conditions can be permanent or chronic.
Shumaila Saeed
Dec 06, 2023
An illness is often an ailment or disease affecting the body or mind, often with specific symptoms, while a condition could be any medical state, which could include chronic diseases or long-term health issues. Illness usually suggests a departure from health, whereas a condition can be a neutral state of health.
Shumaila Saeed
Dec 06, 2023
Illness implies an abnormal state that negatively impacts one's health or well-being, whereas a condition could be a normal or abnormal state of being, not necessarily negative. Illnesses are typically resolved through treatment, whereas conditions might require ongoing management.
Shumaila Saeed
Dec 06, 2023
The term illness is often used to describe acute health problems, like infections or flu, which are usually curable, but condition is a more encompassing term that could include both acute and chronic health states, like diabetes or hypertension. Illness connotes a more immediate health issue, while condition implies a broader state of health.
Shumaila Saeed
Dec 06, 2023
Comparison Chart
ADVERTISEMENT
Treatment
Requires medical intervention
May not need treatment, can be managed
Shumaila Saeed
Dec 06, 2023
Illness and Condition Definitions
ADVERTISEMENT
Condition
A health-related state
He has a heart condition that needs monitoring.
Shumaila Saeed
Dec 06, 2023
Illness
A physical or mental ailment
Chronic illness can affect mental health.
Shumaila Saeed
Dec 06, 2023
Condition
A stipulation or prerequisite
The contract has several conditions.
Shumaila Saeed
Dec 06, 2023
Condition
A mode or state of being
We bought a used boat in excellent condition.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
ADVERTISEMENT
Illness
A condition with symptoms
The illness manifested with fever and fatigue.
Shumaila Saeed
Dec 06, 2023
Condition
Conditions Existing circumstances
Economic conditions have improved. The news reported the latest weather conditions.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
A state of physical fitness
Have you exercised enough to get back into condition?.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
One that is indispensable to the appearance or occurrence of another; a prerequisite
Compatibility is a condition of a successful marriage.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Illness
(countable) An instance of a disease or poor health.
Her grandmother had passed away after a long illness.
Suffer form a severe illness
A mild illness
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
One that restricts or modifies another; a qualification
I'll make you a promise but with one condition.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Illness
(uncountable) A state of bad health or disease.
Many working days this year have been lost through illness.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
(Grammar) The dependent clause of a conditional sentence; protasis.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Illness
The condition of being ill, evil, or bad; badness; unfavorableness.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
(Logic) A proposition on which another proposition depends; the antecedent of a conditional proposition.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Illness
Disease; indisposition; malady; disorder of health; sickness; as, a short or a severe illness.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
A provision making the effect of a legal instrument contingent on the occurrence of an uncertain future event.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Illness
Impairment of normal physiological function affecting part or all of an organism
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
To make dependent on a condition or conditions
Use of the cabin is conditioned on your keeping it clean.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
To stipulate as a condition
“He only conditioned that the marriage should not take place before his return” (Jane Austen).
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
To cause to be in a certain condition; shape or influence
“Our modern conceptions of historiography [are] conditioned by Western intellectual traditions” (Carol Meyers).
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
To accustom (oneself or another) to something; adapt
Had to condition herself to long hours of hard work.
Conditioned the troops to marches at high altitudes.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
To render fit for work or use
Spent weeks conditioning the old car.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
To improve the physical fitness of (the body, for example), as through repeated sessions of strenuous physical activity.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
(Psychology) To cause (an organism) to respond in a specific manner to a previously unrelated stimulus, as in operant conditioning or classical conditioning.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
To replace moisture or oils in (hair, for example) by use of a therapeutic product.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
A logical clause or phrase that a conditional statement uses. The phrase can either be true or false.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
A requirement or requisite.
Environmental protection is a condition for sustainability.
What other planets might have the right conditions for life?
The union had a dispute over sick time and other conditions of employment.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
(law) A clause in a contract or agreement indicating that a certain contingency may modify the principal obligation in some way.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
The health status of a medical patient.
My aunt couldn’t walk up the stairs in her condition.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
The state or quality.
National reports on the condition of public education are dismal.
The condition of man can be classified as civilized or uncivilized.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
A particular state of being.
Hypnosis is a peculiar condition of the nervous system.
Steps were taken to ameliorate the condition of slavery.
Security is defined as the condition of not being threatened.
Aging is a condition over which we are powerless.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
(obsolete) The situation of a person or persons, particularly their social and/or economic class, rank.
A man of his condition has no place to make requests.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
To subject to the process of acclimation.
I became conditioned to the absence of seasons in San Diego.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
To subject to different conditions, especially as an exercise.
They were conditioning their shins in their karate class.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
To make dependent on a condition to be fulfilled; to make conditional on.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
To shape the behaviour of someone to do something.
The children were conditioned to speak up if they had any disagreements.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
(transitive) To test or assay, as silk (to ascertain the proportion of moisture it contains).
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
To put under conditions; to require to pass a new examination or to make up a specified study, as a condition of remaining in one's class or in college.
To condition a student who has failed in some branch of study
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
To impose upon an object those relations or conditions without which knowledge and thought are alleged to be impossible.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
Mode or state of being; state or situation with regard to external circumstances or influences, or to physical or mental integrity, health, strength, etc.; predicament; rank; position, estate.
I am in my conditionA prince, Miranda; I do think, a king.
And O, what man's condition can be worseThan his whom plenty starves and blessings curse?
The new conditions of life.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
Essential quality; property; attribute.
It seemed to us a condition and property of divine powers and beings to be hidden and unseen to others.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
Temperament; disposition; character.
The condition of a saint and the complexion of a devil.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
That which must exist as the occasion or concomitant of something else; that which is requisite in order that something else should take effect; an essential qualification; stipulation; terms specified.
I had as lief take her dowry with this condition, to be whipped at the high cross every morning.
Many are apt to believe remission of sins, but they believe it without the condition of repentance.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
A clause in a contract, or agreement, which has for its object to suspend, to defeat, or in some way to modify, the principal obligation; or, in case of a will, to suspend, revoke, or modify a devise or bequest. It is also the case of a future uncertain event, which may or may not happen, and on the occurrence or non-occurrence of which, the accomplishment, recission, or modification of an obligation or testamentary disposition is made to depend.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
To make terms; to stipulate.
Pay me back my credit,And I'll condition with ye.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
To impose upon an object those relations or conditions without which knowledge and thought are alleged to be impossible.
To think of a thing is to condition.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
To invest with, or limit by, conditions; to burden or qualify by a condition; to impose or be imposed as the condition of.
Seas, that daily gain upon the shore,Have ebb and flow conditioning their march.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
To contract; to stipulate; to agree.
It was conditioned between Saturn and Titan, that Saturn should put to death all his male children.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
To put under conditions; to require to pass a new examination or to make up a specified study, as a condition of remaining in one's class or in college; as, to condition a student who has failed in some branch of study.
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
To test or assay, as silk (to ascertain the proportion of moisture it contains).
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
A state at a particular time;
A condition (or state) of disrepair
The current status of the arms negotiations
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
A mode of being or form of existence of a person or thing;
The human condition
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
An assumption on which rests the validity or effect of something else
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
(usually plural) a statement of what is required as part of an agreement;
The contract set out the conditions of the lease
The terms of the treaty were generous
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
The state of (good) health (especially in the phrases `in condition' or `in shape' or `out of condition' or `out of shape')
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
Information that should be kept in mind when making a decision;
Another consideration is the time it would take
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
The procedure that is varied in order to estimate a variable's effect by comparison with a control condition
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
Train by instruction and practice; especially to teach self-control;
Parents must discipline their children
Is this dog trained?
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
Specify as a condition or requirement in a contract or agreement; make an express demand or provision in an agreement;
The will stipulates that she can live in the house for the rest of her life
The contract stipulates the dates of the payments
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
Apply conditioner to in order to make smooth and shiny;
I condition my hair after washing it
Shumaila Saeed
Oct 19, 2023
Condition
An environmental or situational state
The condition of the roads worsened after the storm.
Shumaila Saeed
Dec 06, 2023
Repeatedly Asked Queries
Can lifestyle impact illness?
Yes, lifestyle choices can influence illness.
Shumaila Saeed
Dec 06, 2023
How is 'condition' used in contracts?
As a term for stipulations or requirements.
Shumaila Saeed
Dec 06, 2023
Are conditions always health-related?
No, they can refer to other situations.
Shumaila Saeed
Dec 06, 2023
Are all illnesses diagnosable?
Most are, but some can be challenging to diagnose.
Shumaila Saeed
Dec 06, 2023
Does a condition always need management?
Not always, it depends on the specific case.
Shumaila Saeed
Dec 06, 2023
Is 'condition' used in fitness?
Yes, referring to physical state or fitness.
Shumaila Saeed
Dec 06, 2023
Can environmental factors be conditions?
Yes, they can describe situational states.
Shumaila Saeed
Dec 06, 2023
Share this page
Link for your blog / website
HTML
Link to share via messenger
About Author
Written by
Shumaila SaeedShumaila Saeed, an expert content creator with 6 years of experience, specializes in distilling complex topics into easily digestible comparisons, shining a light on the nuances that both inform and educate readers with clarity and accuracy.