sickness
Americannoun
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sicknesses
plural
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a particular disease or malady.
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the state or an instance of being sick; illness.
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nausea; queasiness.
noun
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an illness or disease
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nausea or queasiness
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the state or an instance of being sick
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of sickness
before 1000; Middle English siknesse, seknesse, Old English sēocnesse. See sick 1, -ness
Compare meaning
How does sickness compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
The condition of being unwell or having an illness is sickness. Your sickness during the month of November might mean you miss a lot of school. A well-known, Christian version of wedding vows includes a promise to "have and to hold...in sickness and in health." This means the couple agrees to stay together and support each other whether they're healthy or ill. Some sickness is a chronic or permanent kind of malady, while others are more specific, like morning sickness during pregnancy or a brief flash of sickness when your plane hits a patch of turbulence.
Vocabulary lists containing sickness
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:
Perpetuating these kinds of gravely serious illnesses extends the sickness past the confines of our own bodies, and into the world around us.
From Salon ● Aug. 8, 2026
The lack of physical windows might exacerbate feelings of motion sickness.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
The fact Pogacar achieved what he did while most of his team-mates - and possibly even himself - suffered sickness across the second half of the Tour is even more remarkable.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
The toxic bacteria which can cause skin irritation and sickness in people and animals who come into contact with it, has become an unwelcome feature of recent summers.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
Still, a sickness comes upon us—we now call it the “summer sickness”—and many of our men are too weak to work.
From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone
After a report last week of multiple sicknesses and deaths possibly arising from deli meats, Boar's Head Provisions has now announced a multi-state recall of many of its products.
From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2024
"There are sicknesses and we can not find any cure," said 54-year-old Abu Khalil, who has been displaced to Rafah in southern Gaza.
From BBC ● Feb. 18, 2024
Charles N. Hunter, who later wrote a critical report accusing General Stilwell of sending men still recovering from jungle sicknesses back into combat, which drew a Congressional investigation.
From New York Times ● Jan. 12, 2024
Nearly 30,000 people staying in schools, auditoriums and other evacuation centers worried about infections as cases of COVID-19 and other sicknesses popped up.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 7, 2024
There were always gut sicknesses and fevers sweeping through the camp.
From I Survived the American Revolution, 1776 by Lauren Tarshis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
