ailing

adjective

ail·​ing ˈā-liŋ 

: having or suffering from an illness or injury

providing care for his ailing mother

trying to rest her ailing knee/back

a person in ailing health

—often used figuratively

an ailing company

an ailing economy

Synonyms

• fragile
• dying
• frail
• sickly
• sick
• weak
• invalid
• weakly

Examples of ailing in a Sentence

when his ailing wife had to go to a nursing home, he visited her every day

he was ailing from some sort of infection in his eye that made it look all red and puffy

Recent Examples on the Web

France lurched into a political crisis after Prime Minister Francois Bayrou gambled on a confidence vote, with little hope of any quick solution to fix its ailing public finances, whether a new government or a snap parliamentary election comes next. —Reuters, NBC news, 26 Aug. 2025

In July, Evers signed into law the 2025-2027 budget, which provided $15 million to start the planning process to close the ailing Green Bay prison and update the Waupun prison. —Laura Schulte, jsonline.com, 24 Aug. 2025

But what of the other folks whose influence reverberates down through the decades—the movement designers, conglomerate owners, and brilliant marketers who revived an ailing industry? —Oren Hartov, Robb Report, 15 Aug. 2025

In 1987, after an ailing William Casey stepped down as director of central intelligence, Reagan asked Webster to take over the CIA. —Bloomberg News, Boston Herald, 9 Aug. 2025

Word History

Etymology

from present participle of ail entry 1

First Known Use

1598, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for ailing

• bailing
• baling
• failing
• flailing
• grayling
• hailing
• jailing
• mailing
• nailing
• paling
• railing
• sailing