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carsick

American  
[kahr-sik] / ˈkɑrˌsɪk /

adjective

  1. ill with carsickness.


carsick British  
/ ˈkɑːˌsɪk /

adjective

  1. nauseated from riding in a car or other vehicle

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of carsick

First recorded in 1905–10; car 1 + sick 1

Explanation

If you get carsick, you feel nauseated when you're in a moving vehicle. Kids who get carsick often feel worse when they try to read in a car. If you get sick to your stomach whenever you ride in a car, you can say you tend to get carsick. This is just one of many kinds of motion sickness — some people feel ill when they're traveling by airplane, on a train, or on a boat. The word seasick came first, in the 16th century, and carsick was modeled after it, appearing around 1908.

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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:

Drinks remembers his sense of disbelief and being a little carsick as they drove the four hours back to Philadelphia, where he would move in with his brother Damon.

From Seattle Times Aug. 19, 2023

About a week later he felt nauseated and carsick.

From Washington Post May 28, 2022

I know a lot of people get carsick from reading, but I get carsick if I’m not reading.

From New York Times Feb. 21, 2019

Also the camera work is making me carsick.

From Los Angeles Times Dec. 8, 2014

I draw in my sketch pad for the whole drive, and get carsick.

From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman

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