sic

¹ American  

[sik] / sɪk /

Or sick

verb (used with object)

sicced, sicked siccing, sicking

1. to attack (used especially in commanding a dog).

   Sic 'em!

2. to incite to attack (usually followed byon ).

---

sic ² American  

[sik] / sɪk /

adjective

Chiefly Scot.

1. such.

---

sic ³ American  

[seek, sik] / sik, sɪk /

adverb

Latin.

1. so; thus: usually written parenthetically to denote that a word, phrase, passage, etc., that may appear strange or incorrect has been written intentionally or has been quoted verbatim.

   He signed his name as e. e. cummings (sic).

---

SIC ⁴ American  

U.S. Government.

1. Standard Industrial Classification: a system used by the federal government to classify business activities for analytical and reporting purposes.

---

Sic. ⁵ American  

abbreviation

1. Sicilian.

2. Sicily.

---

sic ¹ British  

/ sɪk /

adverb

1. so or thus: inserted in brackets in a written or printed text to indicate that an odd or questionable reading is what was actually written or printed

---

sic ² British  

/ sɪk /

verb

1. to turn on or attack: used only in commands, as to a dog

2. to urge (a dog) to attack

---

sic ³ British  

/ sɪk /

determiner

1. a Scot word for such

---

sic Cultural  

1. A Latin word for “thus,” used to indicate that an apparent error is part of quoted material and not an editorial mistake: “The learned geographer asserts that ‘the capital of the United States is Washingtown [sic].’”

---

Etymology

Origin of sic¹

First recorded in 1835–45; variant of seek

Origin of sic¹

First recorded in 1400–50; Middle English (north and Scots); such

Origin of sic¹

First recorded in 1885–90; from Latin sīc

Example Sentences

Later, the whole world was watching as Bull Connor, Birmingham’s commissioner of public safety, sicced police dogs on peaceful protesters.

From New York Times

“If I went in down Bardstown Road in Louisville, I’d probably get somebody that was going to either yell, scream, sic their dog on me, I don’t know — try to run me over or something.”

From Washington Post

Echoing language he has used to attack prosecutors investigating him, he said he would sic the Justice Department on “Marxist prosecutors offices” if he was elected.

From Washington Post

The evidence was indisputable, like those grainy TV images from the 1950s and ’60s of police officers spraying water hoses and siccing dogs on civil rights activists.

From Washington Post

They went back a decade to revive the debunked charge that a politically motivated Obama administration sicced the IRS on tea party groups.

From Washington Post

Related Words

• arouse
• cause
• convince
• draw
• elicit
• help
• indicate
• induce
• inspire
• motivate
• persuade
• propel
• provoke
• spur
• stimulate
• suggest
• urge