lovesick
Americanadjective
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languishing with love.
a lovesick adolescent.
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expressive of such languishing.
a lovesick note.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of lovesick
Explanation
When someone's lovesick, they are broken-hearted or so distracted by love that it affects their daily life. You might be lovesick if your love took off for Bali (unless of course you have plans to take off for Bali too). There are many different reasons for being lovesick: a lovesick boy might have a crush on a girl who barely notices him, and a lovesick teenager could be overwhelmed by feeling such strong emotions for the first time. Your grandmother's collection of old letters might include the ones she wrote as a new, lovesick wife when your grandfather was in the Army. Lovesick dates from the sixteenth century.
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.
One 25-page text seen by AFP suggested workers adopt the persona of "Abby", a lovesick 35-year-old Japanese woman.
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2025
The age when Aduba, a theater actor who had barely been on TV, wowed viewers and critics as the lovesick, eloquent, unpredictable Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren on “OITNB.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2025
Inside the envelope was a short, lovesick note.
From New York Times ● Mar. 20, 2024
If her first album cast her as the lovesick teenager, these songs saw her taking control with her teeth fully bared.
From BBC ● Dec. 29, 2023
She took a deep breath—“Jump up and down on the table, squawking like a two-hundred-pound lovesick chicken!”
From "The Great Gilly Hopkins" by Katherine Paterson
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.
