Background: Communication about life-threatening disease is essential but mainly studied with caregiver’s perspective included, focused on verbal components. How patients communicate about disease in relation to significant others, we know less about. Despite the fundamentality of nonverbal communication, its dimensions in communication about disease, has not been extensively examined. This study aimed to understand and characterize patients’ experiences of nonverbal communication about disease, in relation to significant others. Method: A secondary qualitative content analysis was applied on 23 in-depth interviews with patients (15) in specialized palliative care at home in Sweden and their significant others (8). Results: Patients express experiences of nonverbal communication in the form of cues, conveying meaning about disease and its consequences, often beyond their control. These dimensions of nonverbal communication are characterized as: body talk, extension talk and action talk. Both patients and significant others find these cues important and actively related to how bodily appearance, aids, and acts, serve communicative functions. Patients choose whether to verbally comment on the nonverbal communication due to their intentions, considering individual needs, care for others as well as an evaluation of the relationship. Significant others acknowledge the presence of nonverbal cues and stress their efforts to interpret their meaning, often without verbally commenting on this to the patient. Conclusion: This study contributes to a knowledge base on the dimensions and complexities of nonverbal communicative aspects in the context of disease. Professionals should be aware that dimensions of care, such as prescribed aids, from patients’ perspective can be perceived as nonverbal cues that might “speak of” disease progression. Inconsistencies between nonverbal and verbal communication about disease can be understood as in line with patients’ intentions rather than a problem professionals need to solve.