The meaning of SICK is affected with disease or ill health : ailing. How to use sick in a sentence.

Ill and sick are both adjectives that mean ‘not in good health’. We use both ill and sick after a verb such as be, become, feel, look or seem: … It's better for the sick to be cared for at home rather than in the …

sick is an adjective, sickly and sickening are adjectives, sickness is a noun, sicken is a verb: He's very sick and can't come to work. The starving child looks so sickly.

Dec 14, 2025 · sick (comparative sicker, superlative sickest) She was sick all day with the flu. We have to care for the sick.

There are 33 meanings listed in OED's entry for the word sick, two of which are labelled obsolete. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.

SICK definition: affected with ill health, disease, or illness; ailing. See examples of sick used in a sentence.

If you describe something such as a joke or story as sick, you mean that it deals with death or suffering in an unpleasantly humorous way.