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SICK
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
People who are sick
Example:
they devote their lives to caring for the sick
Classified under:
Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects
Hypernyms ("sick" is a kind of...):
people ((plural) any group of human beings (men or women or children) collectively)
Derivation:
sick (eject the contents of the stomach through the mouth)
sick (affected with madness or insanity)
sick (affected by an impairment of normal physical or mental function)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Shockingly repellent; inspiring horror
Example:
macabre tortures conceived by madmen
Synonyms:
ghastly; grim; grisly; gruesome; macabre; sick
Classified under:
Similar:
alarming (frightening because of an awareness of danger)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Deeply affected by a strong feeling
Example:
she was sick with longing
Classified under:
Similar:
affected; moved; stirred; touched (being excited or provoked to the expression of an emotion)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Having a strong distaste from surfeit
Example:
tired of the noise and smoke
Synonyms:
disgusted; fed up; sick; sick of; tired of
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
displeased (not pleased; experiencing or manifesting displeasure)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Affected with madness or insanity
Example:
a man who had gone mad
Synonyms:
brainsick; crazy; demented; disturbed; mad; sick; unbalanced; unhinged
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
insane (afflicted with or characteristic of mental derangement)
Derivation:
sick (people who are sick)
Sense 5
Meaning:
(of light) lacking in intensity or brightness; dim or feeble
Example:
the wan light of dawn
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
weak (wanting in physical strength)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Affected by an impairment of normal physical or mental function
Example:
ill from the monotony of his suffering
Synonyms:
ill; sick
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
funny (experiencing odd bodily sensations)
gouty (suffering from gout)
green (looking pale and unhealthy)
laid low; stricken (put out of action (by illness))
laid up (ill and usually confined)
milk-sick (affected with or related to milk sickness)
nauseated; nauseous; queasy; sick; sickish (feeling nausea; feeling about to vomit)
palsied (affected with palsy or uncontrollable tremor)
paralytic; paralyzed (affected with paralysis)
paraplegic (suffering complete paralysis of the lower half of the body usually resulting from damage to the spinal cord)
rachitic; rickety (affected with, suffering from, or characteristic of rickets)
scrofulous (afflicted with scrofula)
sneezy (inclined to sneeze)
spastic (suffering from spastic paralysis)
tubercular; tuberculous (constituting or afflicted with or caused by tuberculosis or the tubercle bacillus)
unhealed (not healed)
upset (mildly physically distressed)
afflicted; stricken (grievously affected especially by disease)
aguish (affected by ague)
ailing; indisposed; peaked; poorly; seedy; sickly; under the weather; unwell (somewhat ill or prone to illness)
air sick; airsick; carsick; seasick (experiencing motion sickness)
autistic (characteristic of or affected with autism)
bedfast; bedrid; bedridden; sick-abed (confined to bed (by illness))
bilious; liverish; livery (suffering from or suggesting a liver disorder or gastric distress)
bronchitic (suffering from or prone to bronchitis)
consumptive (afflicted with or associated with pulmonary tuberculosis)
convalescent; recovering (returning to health after illness or debility)
delirious; hallucinating (experiencing delirium)
diabetic (suffering from diabetes)
dizzy; giddy; vertiginous; woozy (having or causing a whirling sensation; liable to falling)
dyspeptic (suffering from dyspepsia)
faint; light; light-headed; lightheaded; swooning (weak and likely to lose consciousness)
feverish; feverous (having or affected by a fever)
Also:
unhealthy (not in or exhibiting good health in body or mind)
unfit (not in good physical or mental condition; out of condition)
Derivation:
sick (people who are sick)
sickness (impairment of normal physiological function affecting part or all of an organism)
Sense 7
Meaning:
Feeling nausea; feeling about to vomit
Synonyms:
nauseated; nauseous; queasy; sick; sickish
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
ill; sick (affected by an impairment of normal physical or mental function)
Derivation:
sickness (the state that precedes vomiting)
III. (verb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Eject the contents of the stomach through the mouth
Example:
The patient regurgitated the food we gave him last night
Synonyms:
barf; be sick; cast; cat; chuck; disgorge; honk; puke; purge; regorge; regurgitate; retch; sick; spew; spue; throw up; upchuck; vomit; vomit up
Classified under:
Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care
Hypernyms (to "sick" is one way to...):
egest; eliminate; excrete; pass (eliminate from the body)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s
Derivation:
sick (people who are sick)
Context examples:
So is all that plastic making us sick?
(Researchers Discover Microplastics in 100 Percent of People Studied, VOA)
It is important to know how to help your sick baby, and to know the warning signs for more serious problems.
(Common Infant and Newborn Problems, NIH)
It was the sight of that Alpine-stock which turned me cold and sick.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Once he crawled near to the sick wolf.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
I had four, but two were killed, one is a prisoner, and I'm going to the other, who is very sick in a Washington hospital.' he answered quietly.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
If a virus is making you sick, taking antibiotics may do more harm than good.
(Antibiotics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Most bacteria won't hurt you - less than 1 percent of the different types make people sick.
(Bacterial Infections, NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)
When the beating was over White Fang was sick.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
This killed five people and made 22 sick.
(Anthrax, NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)
The chance that your dog or cat will make you sick is small.
(Animal Diseases and Your Health, NIH)
