Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Showing results for sickness. Search instead for unsickerness.
Synonyms

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.


sickness British  
/ ˈsɪknɪs /

noun

  1. an illness or disease

  2. nausea or queasiness

  3. the state or an instance of being sick

"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

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