sickness
Americannoun
-
a particular disease or malady.
-
the state or an instance of being sick; illness.
-
nausea; queasiness.
noun
-
an illness or disease
-
nausea or queasiness
-
the state or an instance of being sick
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:
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.
The findings showed that GLP-1 medications, especially semaglutide, were associated with fewer psychiatric-related hospital visits and reduced sickness absence.
From Science Daily • Mar. 22, 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
That’s when Ms. Nichter, who is Jewish, observed passengers around her ripping apart their Israeli passports, stuffing the larger scraps into sickness bags while chewing and swallowing the smaller pieces.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 3, 2026
The squad has also been afflicted by a sickness bug, which dramatically revealed itself in the quarter-final when Nathan MacKinnon threw up while sat on the bench.
From BBC • Feb. 22, 2026
With all this sickness and movement and death, people got sad.
From "The Marrow Thieves" by Cherie Dimaline
![]()
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.