sicken
Americanverb
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to make or become sick, nauseated, or disgusted
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to show symptoms (of an illness)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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sickensimple
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sickenssimple
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have sickenedperfect
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has sickenedperfect
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am sickeningprogressive
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are sickeningprogressive
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is sickeningprogressive
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have been sickeningperfect progressive
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has been sickeningperfect progressive
Past
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sickenedsimple
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had sickenedperfect
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was sickeningprogressive
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were sickeningprogressive
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had been sickeningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sicken
1150–1200; Middle English seknen, sicnen; cognate with Old Norse sjūkna. See sick 1, -en 1
Explanation
Things that sicken you make you feel upset or ill. It might sicken you to realize that you've hit a squirrel with your car. When things sicken you, they either make you feel terrible — disgusted or horrified — or they make you physically sick. Eating a piece of moldy bread or some potato salad that's been sitting in the sun too long will probably sicken you. Reading a story about childhood hunger and poverty in the newspaper can also sicken you. The earliest meaning of sicken was "fall ill," from an Old English root, seoc, "ill, diseased, weak, or troubled."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
This can include cases in which toxic chemicals drift into neighboring fields or communities and sicken people.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
The problem with this line is that unvaccinated children can sicken infants and immuno-compromised children who can’t be inoculated, leaving some disabled or worse.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 22, 2026
Microplastics, along with ultra-tiny nanoplastics, can kill or severely sicken marine life before entering the food web and ultimately ending up on our plates.
From Barron's ● Jan. 22, 2026
Scotland driving at Greece's heart in a bid to sicken them again after sickening them at Hampden earlier in the group.
From BBC ● Nov. 15, 2025
Then: “What’s the matter?” he asked her; and felt the heart within him sicken.
From "Go Tell It on the Mountain" by James Baldwin
Domoic acid is a toxin produced by algae and typically sickens animals that feed on open-ocean fish.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
“Gossip is an evil that destroys social life, sickens people’s hearts and leads to nothing,” the 88-year-old pontiff admonished.
From Salon ● Dec. 21, 2024
Influenza, or flu, sickens millions of people across the globe each year and can lead to severe illness and death.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 1, 2024
Caerphilly Bird Rescue posted a comment about the video, saying it "sickens me to the stomach".
From BBC ● Dec. 4, 2023
“The sight of a wound or scar always agitates and sickens me,” she said.
From "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin
The blazes in Indonesia have burned through hundreds of thousands of hectares of forest and plantations, sickened local residents and sent thick haze across the region.
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026
She felt betrayed, and sickened, but did not immediately end the relationship.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
As the days went on, the smell worsened, drawing swarms of flies and rats to the neighborhood, where they pestered and sickened locals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
Nearly 13,000 people across 21 states had been sickened, 570 hospitalized and two had died after an outbreak linked to shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms.
From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026
As the months went by I remained uninterested, if not downright sickened, by my study of biology; my grades were poor; I was held in contempt by teacher and classmate alike.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
The cyclospora outbreak has become the nation’s largest of its kind, sickening thousands of people.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
And I would be living within walking distance of a sickening number of farmers markets.
From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026
Oshea Orchid, a local lawyer, filed the first class-action lawsuit in 2023 against the operators of the county’s second-largest landfill, alleging the fumes were sickening her neighbors, causing headaches and heart palpitations.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2026
The Mexico striker could have died on the football pitch in November 2020 when a sickening head injury left him with a fractured skull.
From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2026
Trees bowed in deep kowtows or broke their backs, a series of snaps like firecrackers popping, until one loud, sickening crack added to the cacophony in the sky.
From "When the Sea Turned to Silver" by Grace Lin
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