sickly

[ sik-lee ]

/ ˈsɪk li /

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See synonyms for: sickly / sickliness on Thesaurus.com

adjective, sick·li·er, sick·li·est.

not strong; unhealthy; ailing.

of, connected with, or arising from ill health: a sickly complexion.

marked by the prevalence of ill health, as a region: the epidemic left the town sickly.

causing sickness.

nauseating.

maudlin and insipid; mawkish: sickly sentimentality.

faint or feeble, as light or color.

adverb

in a sick or sickly manner.

verb (used with object), sick·lied, sick·ly·ing.

to cover with a sickly hue.

OTHER WORDS FOR sickly

1 frail, weak, puny, sick, feeble, infirm.

See synonyms for sickly on Thesaurus.com

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Origin of sickly

1300–50; Middle English siklich, sekly (adj.). See sick¹, -ly

OTHER WORDS FROM sickly

sick·li·ness, noun

Words nearby sickly

sickle cell trait, sickle feather, sickle-hocked, sickle medick, sick list, sickly, sickness, sickness benefit, sick note, sicko, sickout

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use sickly in a sentence

Martinus Beijerinck, a Dutch microbiologist and botanist, demonstrated that viruses cause disease by experimenting with sap from sickly tobacco-plant leaves during the 19th century.
The Vast Viral World: What We Know (and Don’t Know) - Issue 99: Universality|Lauren E. Oakes|April 7, 2021|Nautilus
Born in 1928, Walter Tevis was a sickly, unhappy child, confined for many months to a hospital bed and dosed with addictive phenobarbital because of rheumatic heart disease.
‘The Queen’s Gambit’ is a bestseller, but its author, Walter Tevis, was hardly a one-hit wonder|Michael Dirda|February 3, 2021|Washington Post
The problem, it turned out, was that the algorithms’ designers assumed that patients who spent more on health care were more sickly and needed more help.
This is the Stanford vaccine algorithm that left out frontline doctors|Eileen Guo|December 21, 2020|MIT Technology Review
Bennett was sickly and needed full-time medical care, so Ada took him to an orphanage while trying to earn enough money to provide for her son by sewing for the prospectors who were the lifeblood of the violent and rough-edged Alaskan city.
The Woman Who Survived Two Years Alone in the Arctic|Fiona Zublin|December 9, 2020|Ozy

Furthermore, use the bones from healthy looking game animals that you’ve taken and avoid using the bones from sickly ones.
Bone broth will sustain you at home and in the wild. Here’s how to make it.|By Tim MacWelch/Outdoor Life|October 5, 2020|Popular-Science
Neruda suffered from cancer, and he looked unwell, with a sickly yellow glow.
In Chile, Poetry Outlives the Dictators|Jay Parini|October 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
At 9:03, the second plane banked sickly toward the south tower as the world watched on television.
The Resilient City: New York After 9/11|John Avlon|September 11, 2014|DAILY BEAST
How did your family react to seeing you so skinny and sickly looking?
Matt Bomer Tells the Personal Story Behind His Heartbreaking ‘Normal Heart’ Performance|Kevin Fallon|May 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
A hunter comes across a sickly gorilla, too weak to defend itself from the blows of his cleaver.
Already Deadly in Africa, Could Ebola Hit America Next?|Scott Bixby|April 5, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Seconds later my friend picked me up in front of the truck stop, his face a sickly shade of white.
The Myths of Matthew Shepard’s Infamous Death|Stephen Jimenez|September 22, 2013|DAILY BEAST
If the father is old or sickly, the son sleeps near him by night, and does not leave his presence by day.
Our Little Korean Cousin|H. Lee M. Pike
His face was sickly, and never free from the traces of acute anxiety that was eating at his heart.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV.|Various
The climate of those mountains is cold rather than temperate, and less healthful than sickly.
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume XX, 1621-1624|Various
It is the offspring of a sickly taste, a deceitful heart, and a sure proof of low breeding.
The Ladies' Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness|Florence Hartley
His childhood, except when he could be rocked and sung into sickly sleep, was one long piteous wail.
The History of England from the Accession of James II.|Thomas Babington Macaulay

British Dictionary definitions for sickly

sickly

/ (ˈsɪklɪ) /

adjective -lier or -liest

disposed to frequent ailments; not healthy; weak

of, relating to, or caused by sickness

(of a smell, taste, etc) causing revulsion or nausea

(of light or colour) faint or feeble

mawkish; insipidsickly affectation

adverb

in a sick or sickly manner

Derived forms of sickly

sickliness, noun

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

sickly

OTHER WORDS FOR sickly

Origin of sickly

OTHER WORDS FROM sickly

Words nearby sickly

Words related to sickly

How to use sickly in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for sickly

Derived forms of sickly