sicken
Americanverb
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to make or become sick, nauseated, or disgusted
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to show symptoms (of an illness)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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sickensimple
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sickenssimple
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have sickenedperfect
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has sickenedperfect
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am sickeningprogressive
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are sickeningprogressive
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is sickeningprogressive
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have been sickeningperfect progressive
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has been sickeningperfect progressive
Past
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sickenedsimple
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had sickenedperfect
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was sickeningprogressive
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were sickeningprogressive
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had been sickeningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sicken
1150–1200; Middle English seknen, sicnen; cognate with Old Norse sjūkna. See sick 1, -en 1
Explanation
Things that sicken you make you feel upset or ill. It might sicken you to realize that you've hit a squirrel with your car. When things sicken you, they either make you feel terrible — disgusted or horrified — or they make you physically sick. Eating a piece of moldy bread or some potato salad that's been sitting in the sun too long will probably sicken you. Reading a story about childhood hunger and poverty in the newspaper can also sicken you. The earliest meaning of sicken was "fall ill," from an Old English root, seoc, "ill, diseased, weak, or troubled."
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:
The problem with this line is that unvaccinated children can sicken infants and immuno-compromised children who can’t be inoculated, leaving some disabled or worse.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 22, 2026
Microplastics, along with ultra-tiny nanoplastics, can kill or severely sicken marine life before entering the food web and ultimately ending up on our plates.
From Barron's ● Jan. 22, 2026
Scotland driving at Greece's heart in a bid to sicken them again after sickening them at Hampden earlier in the group.
From BBC ● Nov. 15, 2025
An infected flea, although rare, can sicken pets, which are vulnerable to the disease, Chopra said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2025
I averred that I mended, though others sicken.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
Domoic acid is a toxin produced by algae and typically sickens animals that feed on open-ocean fish.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
Morgan condemned the "mindless vandalism", saying "it is the cost to the community that sickens me the most".
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
“Gossip is an evil that destroys social life, sickens people’s hearts and leads to nothing,” the 88-year-old pontiff admonished.
From Salon ● Dec. 21, 2024
Influenza, or flu, sickens millions of people across the globe each year and can lead to severe illness and death.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 1, 2024
It sickens me to think that such an evil man can feel pity.
From "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently pledged to look into the phenomenon of electromagnetic sensitivity, as increasing numbers of people claim they are being sickened by radio waves.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
The blazes in Indonesia have burned through hundreds of thousands of hectares of forest and plantations, sickened local residents and sent thick haze across the region.
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026
She felt betrayed, and sickened, but did not immediately end the relationship.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
Nearly 13,000 people across 21 states had been sickened, 570 hospitalized and two had died after an outbreak linked to shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms.
From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026
It sickened Shukumar, knowing that she had spent these past evenings preparing for a life without him.
From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
The cyclospora outbreak has become the nation’s largest of its kind, sickening thousands of people.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
Wildlife officials had found that many of these poisons worked their way through the food chain, sickening and killing owls, raptors, coyotes and mountain lions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
And I would be living within walking distance of a sickening number of farmers markets.
From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026
Market volatility has erased some funds’ value with sickening speed—most famously 2018’s “Volmageddon.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
Why does this phrase make us think of insincere widows? sickening thud.
From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
