Meaning & use
diabetes
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Meanings
noununcountablemedical
A long-term illness in which the body cannot control the amount of sugar in the blood.
Grammar: No plural; say 'she has diabetes', not 'a diabetes'.
Patterns
- have diabetes
- develop diabetes
- be diagnosed with diabetes
- diabetes runs in the family
My grandfather has diabetes and checks his blood sugar every day.
People with diabetes need to watch what they eat.
She was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of forty.
noununcountablemedicalrare
A condition in which a person passes large amounts of urine, especially as a symptom.
Grammar: This older, technical use is rare today; the word usually refers to the blood-sugar disease.
Patterns
- diabetes mellitus
- diabetes insipidus
The doctor explained that diabetes insipidus is different from the common form of diabetes.
The term diabetes originally described excessive urination.
Common combinations
- type 1 diabetes
- Type 1 diabetes often appears in childhood.
- type 2 diabetes
- Type 2 diabetes is often linked to lifestyle and age.
- diabetes management
- Good diabetes management includes diet, exercise, and medication.
- a risk of diabetes
- Being overweight increases the risk of diabetes.
- diabetes care
- The clinic offers free diabetes care.
Word family
- diabetic adjective
- Relating to diabetes, as in diabetic care.
- diabetic noun
- A person who has diabetes.
Commonly confused: diabetes or diabetic?
diabetes vs diabetic
Diabetes is the illness; diabetic can be an adjective or a person who has it. Say 'a diabetic' only informally; 'a person with diabetes' is preferred.
Practice
Which sentence uses diabetes correctly?
Choose one answer.
Diabetes is an uncountable noun, so it takes no article or plural: 'She has diabetes.' The other options add articles or plurals that do not fit.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “diabetes”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.