sickly
Adjective Satellite
- unhealthy looking
- somewhat ill or prone to illness
- "a sickly child"
Adj
- Frequently ill or in poor health; weakly.
- Not in good health; (somewhat) sick.
- Characterized by poor or unhealthy growth. (of a plant)
- Appearing ill, infirm or unhealthy; giving the appearance of illness.
- Shedding a relatively small amount of light; (of light) not very bright.
- Lacking intensity or vigour.
- Associated with poor moral or mental well-being.
- Tending to produce nausea.
- Overly sweet.
- Marked by the occurrence of illness or disease (of a period of time).
- Tending to produce disease or poor health.
Verb
Verb Forms: sicklied, sicklying, sicklies
- To make or cause to appear sickly or unhealthy.
- To make (something) sickly.
- To become sickly.
Adv
- In a sick manner; in a way that reflects or causes sickness.
Adjective
- Appearing ill or unhealthy; prone to illness.
Examples
- a sickly autumn; a sickly climate
- a sickly child
- a sickly pallor
- a sickly smell; sickly sentimentality
- a sickly smile
- A string of bad tile draws can sickly one’s hopes for a high score in Scrabble.
- His rack looked sickly, filled with low-value, unconnected letters in Words With Friends.
- sickly pale; to cough sickly
Origin / Etymology
From Middle English seekly, sekely, siklich, sekeliche, equivalent to sick + -ly. Possibly a modification of Old English sīcle (“sickly”) and/or derived from Old Norse sjúkligr (“sickly”). Cognate with Dutch ziekelijk, Middle High German siechlich, Danish sygelig, Swedish sjuklig, Icelandic sjúklegur. The verb is from the adjective.
Synonyms
ailing, indisposed, peaked, poorly, sallow, seedy, under the weather, unwell, cloying, faint, feeble, insalubrious, insipid, nauseating, pale, saccharine, sickening, unhealthy, unwholesome, wan, weak
Scrabble Score: 15
sickly: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordsickly: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
sickly: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary