The word disease is more specific - it is the medical term for when the human body is not functioning correctly due to infection, genetic defects, or other problems. Cancer, AIDS, and tuberculosis are all examples of diseases. The signs of a disease are called symptoms.

Some common collocations with disease include:

a curable disease = can be cured

a preventable disease = can be prevented

a rare disease = not a common disease

a degenerative disease

a communicable/contagious disease = can pass from person to person

heart/liver disease = a disease affecting the heart or liver

an outbreak of disease

the disease spreading = when more and more people get the disease, in an increasingly large area

The word illness is more general - it describes the condition of poor health, but it is not specific about what is causing the health problems.

Some common collocations with illness:

mental illness = general term when someone has a mental problem. Within the general category of "mental illness," we have specific diseases, like schizophrenia

serious/severe illness = an illness that is very bad

minor illness = an illness that is not very bad

chronic illness = an illness that does not go away

fatal/terminal illness = an illness that will kill the person

recover from an illness = get better after being sick

We also have a few collocations that are used with both:

contract/catch/develop an illness/disease

have/suffer from an illness/disease

Fact
It takes about 63,000 trees to make the newsprint for the average Sunday edition of The New York Times      .. More >>