sick Hear it!

sick¹ Definition

sick (sik)

adjective

  1. suffering from disease or illness; unwell; ill: in this sense, now rare or literary in England
  2. having nausea; vomiting or about to vomit: the predominant sense in England
  3. characteristic of or accompanying sickness a sick expression
  4. of or for sick people sick leave
  5. deeply disturbed or distressed; extremely upset, as by grief, disappointment, disgust, failure, etc.
  6. disgusted by reason of excess; annoyed or exasperated: usually with of sick of such excuses
  7. in poor condition; impaired; unsound
  8. having a great longing or nostalgia (for) sick for the hills
  9. of sickly color; pale
  10. having a discharge of the menses; menstruating
  11. mentally ill or emotionally disturbed
  12. Informal sadistic, morbid, or abnormally unwholesome a sick joke
  13. ☆ Agric.
    1. incapable of producing an adequate yield of a certain crop wheatsick soil
    2. infested with harmful microorganisms a sick field

Etymology: ME sik, seke < OE seoc, akin to Ger siech < IE base *seug-, to be troubled or grieved > Arm hiucanim, (I) am weakening

sick¹ Idioms

the sick

sick or ill people collectively

sick² Definition

sick (sik)

transitive verb

sic

sick Synonyms

sick

modif.

ill, ailing, unwell, disordered, diseased, feeble, weak, impaired, suffering, feverish, nauseous, nauseated, imperfect, sickly, declining, unhealthy, morbid, rabid, indisposed, distempered, infected, invalid, delicate, infirm, frail, rickety, broken down, physically run down, confined, laid up, coming down with, under medication, bedridden, in poor health, hospitalized, quarantined, incurable, on the blink*, out of kilter*, peaked*, feeling poorly*, sick as a dog*, seedy*, in a bad way*, not so hot*, at a low ebb*, under the weather*, down in the mouth*, looking green about the gills*.

Antonyms healthy*, hearty*, well.

sick and ill both express the idea of being in bad health, affected with disease, etc., but sick is more commonly used than ill, which is somewhat formal he's a sick person; he is sick, or ill, with the flu; in British usage sick generally means affected with nausea; ailing usually suggests prolonged or even chronic poor health she has been ailing ever since her operation; indisposed suggests a slight, temporary illness or feeling of physical discomfort indisposed with a headache

sick Usage Examples

Preposition: as

  • parrot: Taken as a whole, I was neither over the moon, nor sick as a parrot.

Modifies a noun

  • pilgrim: In all there were nearly 400 pilgrims including about 90 sick pilgrims.
  • pay: Sick pay From date of joining pilots are entitled to basic salary for 3 months in any rolling 12-month period.
  • syndrome: Increasing the amount of fresh air often helps in sick building syndrome.
  • leave: Also, I'd had two lengthy periods of sick leave from work due to stress.
  • joke: With the town basking in the glory of our unique status this is surely some kind of sick joke?
  • bay: He died in the camp sick bay after falling into a coma.

Modifying Another Word

  • chronically: Fuel poverty remains a killer in Britain today despite repeated efforts by government, with older people and the chronically sick at most risk.
  • heartily: The - s will be heartily sick of you.
  • violently: His weight chart looked terrible and Aaron was still being violently sick and sleeping lots.
  • physically: The thought of giving a presentation can make some people feel physically sick.

Used with adjective complement

  • feel: Feeling sick beyond belief, I would go home feeling I had been punished for things in a previous life.
  • worry: She's not gone home, she's not even been to college for the past 2 weeks and I'm worried sick!
  • fall: Just before he fell sick, the Prophet had given orders for an expedition to the Syrian border.
  • get: The worst is always getting sick of the road.
  • lie: Mother Bird lay sick a long time, tended by West.

Preposition: of

  • sight: However this was another species I was almost sick of the sight of by the end of the tour.
  • hearing: And it is a message the Mayor of Wroclaw is sick of hearing.

Preposition: with

  • flu: It pays to say something more specific like " hear your mother has been sick with the flu " .
  • worry: Not bad for an 85-year-old, although he was sick with worry throughout, and so very pleased when it was all over.
sick Quotes

All right, then, I'll say it: Dante makes me sick.

—Vega Carpio, Lope Fe¤  lix de

Even from my sick bed, even if you are going to lower me intothegrave, and Ifeelsomething iswrong,Iwill get up.

—Lee, KuanYew

Democracy is not a polite employer† The only way out of elective office is to get sick or die or get kicked out.

—Hoover, Herbert Clark

At Flores in the Azores Sir Richard Grenville lay, And a pinnace, like a fluttered bird, came flying from far away: 'Spanishships of warat sea! Wehavesighted fifty-three!' Then sware Lord Thomas Howard: ''Fore God I am no coward; But I cannot meetthem here, for my ships are out of gear, And the half my men are sick. I must fly, but followquick. Wearesix ships oftheline; canwefight withfifty-three?' Then spake Sir Richard Grenville: 'I know you are no coward; You fly them for a moment to fight with them again. But I've ninety men and more that are lying sick ashore. I should count myself the coward if I left them, my Lord Howard, To these Inquisition dogs and the devildoms of Spain.' So Lord Howard passed away with five ships of war that day, Till he melted like a cloud in the silent summer heaven.

—Tennyson

Heal the sick, cleansethe lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.

—Bible (NewTestament)

Be near me when my light is low, When the blood creeps, and the nerves prick And tingle; and the heart is sick, And all the wheels of Being slow. Be near me when the sensuous frame Is racked with pains that conquer trust; And Time, a maniac scattering dust, And Life, a Fury slinging flame.

—Tennyson

Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.

—Bible (Old Testament)

How sick one gets of being 'good', how much I should respect myself if I could burst out and make every one wretched for 24 hours.

—James, Alice

   Exercise is bunk. If you are healthy, you don't need it: if you are sick, you shouldn't take it.

—Ford, Henry

Illness is the night-side of life, a more onerous citizenship.Everyone who isborn holds dual citizenship, inthekingdomofthewell and inthekingdomofthesick. Although we all prefer to use only the good passport, sooneror latereach of us is obliged, at least fora spell, to identify ourselves as citizens of that other place.

—Sontag, Susan

A person seldom falls sick, but the bystanders are animated with a faint hope that he will die.

—Emerson, RalphWaldo

Only do always in health what you have often promised to do when you are sick.

—Sigismund

As long as our civilization is essentially one of property, of fences, of exclusiveness, it will be mocked by delusions.Our riches will leave us sick; there will be bitterness in our laughter; and our wine will burn our mouth.

—Emerson, RalphWaldo

Pictures of perfection as you know make me sick and wicked.

—Austen,Jane

For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and yegaveme drink: Iwas a stranger, and yetook me in: Naked,and ye clothedme: Iwassick, and yevisited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

—Bible (NewTestament)

Sick as a parrot.

—Anonymous

Sir, you have but two topics, yourself and me.I am sickof both.

—Johnson, Samuel known as Dr Johnson

I'll thcream and thcream and thcream until I'm thick.

—Crompton, Richmal originally Richmal Samuel Lamburn

The people die so, that now it seems theyare fain to carry the dead to be buried by daylight, the nights not sufficing to do it in. And my Lord Mayor commands people to be within at 9 at night, all (as they say) that the sick may have liberty to go abroad for ayre.

—Pepys, Samuel

But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them,They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.But go ye and learnwhat that meaneth,Iwill have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

—Bible (NewTestament)

   When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them,They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. 114

—Bible (NewTestament)

How few of his friends' houses would a man choose to be at when he is sick.

—Johnson, Samuel known as Dr Johnson

When I was sick and lay a-bed, I had two pillows at my head, And all my toys beside me lay To keep me happy all the day.

—Stevenson, Robert Louis