Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Relating to or caused by disease; unhealthy or diseased: "morbid" can describe a physical condition, tissue, or process that is affected by or characteristic of disease.
   • Characterized by or appealing to an abnormal and unhealthy interest in disturbing and unpleasant subjects, especially death and decay: "morbid" describes an unhealthy state of mind or fascination.
   • Gloomy, gruesome, or horrifying: "morbid" can also describe something that suggests the horror of death and decay.

Examples of Usage

• Adjective:
  • The doctor examined the morbid tissue from the biopsy. (The doctor examined the diseased tissue from the biopsy.)
  • She has a morbid fascination with true crime stories. (She has an unhealthy fascination with true crime stories.)
  • The painting's morbid details depicted scenes of decay. (The painting's gruesome details depicted scenes of decay.)

Advanced Usage

• "Morbid curiosity": an unhealthy desire to learn about unpleasant or disturbing things.

  • He watched the accident scene out of morbid curiosity. (He watched the accident scene out of an unhealthy desire to see something disturbing.)

• "Morbid anatomy": the branch of anatomy dealing with the structural changes caused by disease.

  • The medical student studied morbid anatomy to understand disease processes. (The medical student studied the anatomy of disease to understand disease processes.)

Variants and Related Words

• Morbidity (n): the condition of being diseased; the incidence of disease in a population. Also, the quality of being morbid.

  • The morbidity rate for the illness was high. (The disease incidence rate for the illness was high.)
  • The morbidity of his thoughts was concerning. (The unhealthy quality of his thoughts was concerning.)

• Morbidly (adv): in a morbid manner.

  • He was morbidly obsessed with his health. (He was unhealthily obsessed with his health.)

Synonyms

• Diseased: affected with disease.
• Pathological: relating to or caused by disease.
• Macabre: disturbing and horrifying because of involvement with or depiction of death and injury.
• Gruesome: causing repulsion or horror; grisly.

Related Phrases

• Morbid obesity: a medical term for being severely overweight to the point where it seriously impacts health.
  • The patient was diagnosed with morbid obesity. (The patient was diagnosed with severe, health-threatening obesity.)

Related Idioms

• "Morbid fear": an extreme and irrational fear, often of death or disease.
  • She had a morbid fear of hospitals. (She had an extreme and irrational fear of hospitals.)

Adjective

1. caused by or altered by or manifesting disease or pathology
   • diseased tonsils
   • a morbid growth
   • pathologic tissue
   • pathological bodily processes
2. suggesting the horror of death and decay
   • morbid details
3. suggesting an unhealthy mental state
   • morbid interest in death
   • morbid curiosity