sick
1 Americanadjective
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affected with ill health, disease, or illness; ailing.
She was sick with the flu for two weeks.
- Synonyms:
- indisposed, infirm
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affected with nausea; inclined to vomit.
If you feel sick, take a few deep breaths and wait for the feeling to pass.
-
deeply affected with some unpleasant feeling, as of sorrow, disgust, or boredom.
The suffering and torments of the wounded make me sick at heart.
I never thought it would happen, but after two years of college I'm sick of parties.
-
mentally, morally, or emotionally deranged, corrupt, or unsound.
Only someone with a sick mind would suggest such an immoral scheme.
He made wild statements that made him seem sick.
-
dwelling on or obsessed with that which is gruesome, sadistic, ghoulish, or the like; morbid: sick jokes.
a sick comedian;
sick jokes.
-
of, relating to, or for use during ill health.
He applied for sick benefits.
-
accompanied by or suggestive of ill health; sickly.
a sick pallor;
the sick smell of disinfectant in the corridors.
-
disgusted; chagrined.
Such blatant hypocrisy makes me sick.
-
not in proper condition; impaired.
My car is sick and I'm afraid it's going to cost a lot of money to repair.
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The plot is boring but the special effects are sick!
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Agriculture.
-
failing to sustain adequate harvests of some crop, usually specified.
a wheat-sick soil.
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containing harmful microorganisms.
a sick field.
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Now Rare: Sometimes Offensive. menstruating.
noun
idioms
-
sick to one's stomach, nauseated.
-
sick and tired, utterly weary; fed up.
I'm sick and tired of working so hard!
-
sick as a dog. dog.
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sick at one's stomach, nauseated.
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call in sick, to notify one's place of employment that one will be absent from work because of illness.
I'd rather not call in sick tomorrow, but I'm not sure I can drive like this.
verb (used with object)
adjective
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inclined or likely to vomit
-
-
suffering from ill health
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( as collective noun; preceded by the )
the sick
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-
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of, relating to, or used by people who are unwell
sick benefits
-
( in combination )
sickroom
-
-
deeply affected with a mental or spiritual feeling akin to physical sickness
sick at heart
-
mentally, psychologically, or spiritually disturbed
-
informal delighting in or catering for the macabre or sadistic; morbid
sick humour
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Also: sick and tired. informal (often foll by of) disgusted or weary, esp because satiated
I am sick of his everlasting laughter
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(often foll by for) weary with longing; pining
I am sick for my own country
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pallid or sickly
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not in working order
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(of land) unfit for the adequate production of certain crops
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slang to be outclassed
noun
verb
Synonym Usage
See ill.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of sick
First recorded before 900; Middle English sek, sik, Old English sēoc; cognate with Dutch ziek, German siech, Old Norse sjūkr, Gothic siuks
Explanation
Sick describes someone who's not well, suffering from some kind of illness. You shouldn't go to school when you're sick. If you're sick in bed, you're ill. While sick usually refers to people with physical or mental illnesses, it can also be used to describe an object or system that isn't working right, like a sick economy. Sick can also mean that you're tired of something, like a song you have heard too many times — you're sick of it. Sick is also slang used to describe something that is visually impressive, like a sick hockey goal.
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 man replied: "That's not what I'm into at all and I feel sick."
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
The regulators are investigating a multistate outbreak of cyclospora, a parasite that is responsible for making at least 1,600 people sick with a severe gastrointestinal illness that causes watery diarrhea and abdominal cramping.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 20, 2026
My earliest memories of slurping those warm, squiggly noodles are from sick days spent nestled under the sheets in my childhood bedroom.
From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2026
“In addition, recent illnesses may not yet be reported as it can take several weeks to determine if a sick person is part of an outbreak,” the CDC stated.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
As I stared, I saw something that nearly made me sick.
From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler
In the current system, premiums are calculated by assessing the full pool of enrollees, including those who are older and sicker and tend to spend more on medical care.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 30, 2026
Typically, as health-insurance costs rise, healthier people are the most likely to forgo insurance, leaving a sicker, more costly pool of policyholders.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 19, 2026
Since Medicare pays private insurers a set amount per member, the risk-adjusted model ensures companies don’t selectively choose healthy people by paying them more for sicker patients.
From Barron's ● Mar. 2, 2026
“I think he’s running out of steam,” a few of my D.C. happy hour comrades confessed Wednesday after the hearings, “Or he’s really sicker than he lets on.”
From Salon ● Feb. 13, 2026
He couldn’t even tell anyone the pony was sick, for that might make him sicker.
From "The Red Pony" by John Steinbeck
Some of the sickest burns on the internet right now are coming out of the French Foreign Ministry.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 26, 2026
County public health officials painted a grim picture of what life looks like for the poorest and sickest residents if new money doesn’t flow into the system.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 10, 2026
As a result of declaring the critical incident, the trust will now rearrange some elective procedures to create capacity for the sickest patients.
From BBC ● Jan. 13, 2026
The late-night host’s comments, Carr said, were “the sickest conduct possible.”
From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2025
By late evening, I was the sickest boy in those Ozark hills.
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
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.
