sick1
- afflicted with ill health or disease; ailing.
- affected with nausea; inclined to vomit.
- deeply affected with some unpleasant feeling, as of sorrow, disgust, or boredom: sick at heart; to be sick of parties.
- mentally, morally, or emotionally deranged, corrupt, or unsound: a sick mind; wild statements that made him seem sick.
- characteristic of a sick mind: sick fancies.
- dwelling on or obsessed with that which is gruesome, sadistic, ghoulish, or the like; morbid: a sick comedian; sick jokes.
- of, relating to, or for use during sickness: He applied for sick benefits.
- accompanied by or suggestive of sickness; sickly: a sick pallor; the sick smell of disinfectant in the corridors.
- disgusted; chagrined.
- not in proper condition; impaired.
- Slang. great; amazing: The plot is boring but the special effects are sick!
- Agriculture.
- failing to sustain adequate harvests of some crop, usually specified: a wheat-sick soil.
- containing harmful microorganisms: a sick field.
- Now Rare. menstruating.
- (used with a plural verb) sick persons collectively (usually preceded by the).
- call in sick, to notify one's place of employment by telephone that one will be absent from work because of being ill.
- sick and tired, utterly weary; fed up: I'm sick and tired of working so hard!
- sick at one's stomach, Chiefly Midland and Southern U.S. nauseated.
- sick to one's stomach, Chiefly Northern, North Midland, and Western U.S. nauseated.
Origin of sick1
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comAntonyms
sick2
- sic1.
sic1
or sick
- to attack (used especially in commanding a dog): Sic 'em!
- to incite to attack (usually followed by on).
Origin of sic1
Related Words
disordered, indisposed, down, ailing, incurable, funny, nauseated, debilitated, invalid, wobbly, frail, imperfect, suffering, confined, impaired, peaked, ill, tottering, green, meanExamples from the Web for sick
Contemporary Examples
And not just sick in the body but in your mind, because you start obsessing.
I was sick in street gutters, onto my desk, at dinners with friends.
We are the sick ones who torment trans people every day of their lives.
Cover-Ups and Concern Trolls: Actually, It's About Ethics in Suicide JournalismArthur Chu
January 3, 2015
It happens, of course, but the less time a person is sick, the better their chances of recovery.
If she is sick or has an emergency, she forfeits any pay for that day.
Historical Examples
His spirit yearned after his father, and his heart was sick for his forest home.
The Armourer's PrenticesCharlotte M. Yonge
When I last saw her she was providing for five sick and injured ones.
Harriet, The Moses of Her PeopleSarah H. Bradford
The flames had been suddenly quenched within him, and he felt cold and sick.
VivietteWilliam J. Locke
Robin's pale, blank face had a sick look, a deadly smoothness.
Life and Death of Harriett FreanMay Sinclair
Terrible jarrin' to the nerves when folks come in and call on a sick man.
Way of the LawlessMax Brand
sick1
- inclined or likely to vomit
- suffering from ill health
- (as collective noun; preceded by the)the sick
- of, relating to, or used by people who are unwellsick benefits
- (in combination)sickroom
- deeply affected with a mental or spiritual feeling akin to physical sicknesssick at heart
- mentally, psychologically, or spiritually disturbed
- informal delighting in or catering for the macabre or sadistic; morbidsick humour
- Also: sick and tired (often foll by of) informal disgusted or weary, esp because satiatedI am sick of his everlasting laughter
- (often foll by for) weary with longing; piningI am sick for my own country
- pallid or sickly
- not in working order
- (of land) unfit for the adequate production of certain crops
- look sick slang to be outclassed
- an informal word for vomit
Word Origin
sick2
- a variant spelling of sic 2
sic1
- 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
Word Origin
sic2
- to turn on or attack: used only in commands, as to a dog
- to urge (a dog) to attack
Word Origin
sic3
- a Scot word for such
Word Origin and History for sick
v.
"to chase, set upon" (as in command sick him!), 1845, dialectal variant of seek. Used as an imperative to incite a dog to attack a person or animal; hence "cause to pursue." Related: Sicked; sicking.
adj.
"unwell," Old English seoc "ill, diseased, feeble, weak; corrupt; sad, troubled, deeply affected," from Proto-Germanic *seukaz, of uncertain origin. The general Germanic word (cf. Old Norse sjukr, Danish syg, Old Saxon siok, Old Frisian siak, Middle Dutch siec, Dutch ziek, Old High German sioh, Gothic siuks "sick, ill"), but in German and Dutch displaced by krank "weak, slim," probably originally with a sense of "twisted, bent" (see crank (n.)).
Restricted meaning "having an inclination to vomit, affected with nausea" is from 1610s; sense of "tired or weary (of something), disgusted from satiety" is from 1590s; phrase sick and tired of is attested from 1783. Meaning "mentally twisted" in modern colloquial use is from 1955, a revival of the word in this sense from 1550s (sense of "spiritually or morally corrupt" was in Old English, which also had seocmod "infirm of mind"); sick joke is from 1958.
n.
"those who are sick," Old English seoce, from sick (adj).
sic
adv.
insertion in printed quotation to call attention to error in the original; Latin, literally "so, thus, in this way," related to or emphatic of si "if," from PIE root *so- "this, that" (cf. Old English sio "she"). Used regularly in English articles from 1876, perhaps by influence of similar use in French (1872).
[I]t amounts to Yes, he did say that, or Yes, I do mean that, in spite of your natural doubts. It should be used only when doubt is natural; but reviewers & controversialists are tempted to pretend that it is, because (sic) provides them with a neat & compendious form of sneer. [Fowler]
Sic passim is "generally so throughout."
sic
v.
"to set upon, attack;" see sick (v.).
sick
(sĭk)- Suffering from or affected with a disease or disorder.
- Of or for sick persons.
- Nauseated.
- Mentally ill or disturbed.
- Constituting an unhealthy environment for those working or residing within, as of a building.
sic
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].’”
Idioms and Phrases with sick
sick
In addition to the idioms beginning with sick
- sick and tired
- sick as a dog
- sick at heart
- sick in bed
- sick joke
- sick to one's stomach
also see:
- call in sick
- get sick
- make one sick
- worried sick