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sick1

Syllabification: (sick)
Pronunciation: /sik/
Translate sick | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of sick

adjective

  • 1affected by physical or mental illness:nursing very sick children we were sick with bronchitis (as plural noun the sick)visiting the sick and the elderly
  • of or relating to those who are ill:the company organized a sick fund for its workers
  • (of an organization, system, or society) suffering from serious problems, especially of a financial nature:their economy remains sick
  • archaic pining or longing for someone or something:he was sick for a sight of her
  • 2 [predic.] feeling nauseous and wanting to vomit:he was starting to feel sick Mark felt sick with fear
  • [attributive] (of an emotion) so intense as to cause one to feel unwell or nauseous:he had a sick fear of returning
  • informal disappointed, mortified, or miserable:he looked pretty sick at that, but he eventually agreed
  • 3 [predic.] (sick of) intensely annoyed with or bored by (someone or something) as a result of having had too much of them:I’m absolutely sick of your moods
  • 4 informal (especially of humor) having something unpleasant such as death, illness, or misfortune as its subject and dealing with it in an offensive way:this was someone’s idea of a sick joke
  • (of a person) having abnormal or unnatural tendencies; perverted:he is a deeply sick man from whom society needs to be protected
  • 5 informal excellent:it was a sick party and there were tons of cool people there

noun

British informal
  • vomit.

verb

[with object] (sick something up) British informal
  • bring something up by vomiting.

Phrases

be sick

  • 1be ill.
  • 2vomit.

fall (or take) sick

become ill.

get sick

  • 1become ill.
  • 2North American vomit.

make someone sick

cause someone to vomit or feel nauseous or unwell:sherry makes me sick and so do cigars
cause someone to feel intense annoyance or disgust:you’re so damned self-righteous you make me sick!

—— oneself sick

do something to such an extent that one feels nauseous or unwell (often used for emphasis):she was worrying herself sick about Mike

sick and tired of

informal annoyed about or bored with (something) and unwilling to put up with it any longer:I am sick and tired of all the criticism

(as) sick as a dog

informal extremely ill.

(as) sick as a parrot

British informal extremely disappointed.

the sick man of ——

a country that is politically or economically unsound, especially in comparison with its neighbors in the region specified:the country had been the sick man of Europe for too long
[from a use of sick man, frequently applied in the late 19th century to the Sultan of Turkey, later extended to Turkey and other countries]

sick to death of

informalanother way of saying above.

sick to one's stomach

nauseous.
disgusted.

Derivatives

sickish

adjective

Origin:

Old English sēoc 'affected by illness', of Germanic origin; related to Dutch ziek and German siech

sick in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of sick in the British & World English dictionary

Nearby words

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