Sick - Definition, Meaning & Synonyms (2025)

Other forms: sicker; sickest; sicked; sicks; sicking

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.

Definitions of sick

1. adjective

   affected by an impairment of normal physical or mental function

   synonyms:ill

   unfit

   not in good physical or mental condition; out of condition

   unhealthy

   not in or exhibiting good health in body or mind

   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

   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, 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

2. adjective

   feeling nausea; feeling about to vomit

   synonyms:nauseated, nauseous, queasy, sickish

   ill

   affected by an impairment of normal physical or mental function

3. adjective

   affected with madness or insanity

   synonyms:brainsick, crazy, demented, disturbed, mad, unbalanced, unhinged

   insane

   afflicted with or characteristic of mental derangement

4. adjective

   having a strong distaste from surfeit

   “sick of it all”

   “sick to death of flattery”

   “gossip that makes one sick”

   synonyms:disgusted, fed up, sick of, tired of

   displeased

   not pleased; experiencing or manifesting displeasure

5. adjective

   shockingly repellent; inspiring horror

   synonyms:ghastly, grim, grisly, gruesome, macabre

   alarming

   frightening because of an awareness of danger

6. adjective

   deeply affected by a strong feeling

   “sat completely still, sick with envy”

   “she was sick with longing”

   synonyms:

   affected, moved, stirred, touched

   being excited or provoked to the expression of an emotion

7. adjective

   (of light) lacking in intensity or brightness; dim or feeble

   synonyms:pale, pallid, wan

   weak

   wanting in physical strength

8. noun

   people who are sick

   “they devote their lives to caring for the sick”

   see moresee less

   type of:

   people

   (plural) any group of human beings (men or women or children) collectively

9. verb

   eject the contents of the stomach through the mouth

   synonyms:barf, be sick, chuck, disgorge, regurgitate, throw up, vomit, vomit up

   see moresee less

   type of:

   egest, eliminate, excrete, pass

   eliminate from the body

Pronunciation

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