sickness

American  

[sik-nis] / ˈsɪk nɪs /

noun

1. a particular disease or malady.

2. the state or an instance of being sick; illness.

3. nausea; queasiness.

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sickness British  

/ ˈsɪknɪs /

noun

1. an illness or disease

2. nausea or queasiness

3. the state or an instance of being sick

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Etymology

Origin of sickness

before 1000; Middle English siknesse, seknesse, Old English sēocnesse. See sick ¹, -ness

Compare meaning

How does sickness compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• sickness vs. illness

Explanation

The condition of being unwell or having an illness is sickness. Your sickness during the month of November might mean you miss a lot of school. A well-known, Christian version of wedding vows includes a promise to "have and to hold...in sickness and in health." This means the couple agrees to stay together and support each other whether they're healthy or ill. Some sickness is a chronic or permanent kind of malady, while others are more specific, like morning sickness during pregnancy or a brief flash of sickness when your plane hits a patch of turbulence.

Example Sentences

One version of the molecule helped treat morning sickness in pregnant women, while its mirror image caused serious birth defects.

From Science Daily • Mar. 21, 2026

Those triumphs were not exactly foregone conclusions given the travel sickness Howe's team previously suffered with.

From BBC • Mar. 14, 2026

That moment came for me earlier this year, after a back-to-back-back trifecta of holidays, sickness and travel.

From Salon • Mar. 9, 2026

Still, here’s one that those with a propensity to motion sickness may want to take a pass on.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 6, 2026

Still, a sickness comes upon us—we now call it the “summer sickness”—and many of our men are too weak to work.

From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone

Related Words

• ailment
• disease
• disorder
• ill health
• illness
• infirmity
• malady
• nausea
• syndrome