noun

• 1The state of being ill.

  ‘she was absent through sickness’

  More example sentences

  • ‘a sickness allowance’
  • ‘You have a severe headache with fever, sickness and possibly a rash.’
  • ‘There are the usual migraine symptoms - headache, sickness, sensitivity to light, but there are no aura symptoms.’
  • ‘Sixty-one years ago, they promised to love each other in sickness and health.’
  • ‘For doctors, the noises made by the body the heart, breath, and bowel sounds are clues to its health or sickness.’
  • ‘Pregnancy sickness, even severe sickness, is not associated with any harm to your baby.’
  • ‘They might get signs of sickness like headache, dizziness, faintness, weakness or a choking feeling.’
  • ‘It used to be known as altitude sickness or tropical sickness, but it seems to be more and more prevalent.’
  • ‘In sickness and in more sickness by the light of that wonderful bubble, the moon’
  • ‘Mine. I promised to care for her, in sickness and in health, and she promised not to die again without ample warning.’
  • ‘So football imitates life and the healthiest managerial marriages are those that stick together in sickness and in health, for richer, for poorer.’
  • ‘Her special interests include the role of the spiritual dimension in all kinds of healing, and the body-mind link in sickness and health.’
  • ‘We are all being encouraged to make private provision for education, unemployment, sickness, health and retirement.’
  • ‘Undoubtedly, new genetics are set to enrich our knowledge of human behavior in sickness and in health.’
  • ‘Whether in sickness or in health, weakness or strength, every one is of infinite value before God and must be treated as such.’
  • ‘He had made a vow to his wife, in sickness and in health.’
  • ‘John looked deep into Anne's eyes as he promised to remain true through sickness and health.’
  • ‘Just what does for better or for worse, in sickness and in health mean anyway?’
  • ‘Further it would have been possible to ensure that there was some cover when one of the jobsharers was on holiday or absent on account of sickness.’
  • ‘They paid out sums to meet losses of earnings and health care expenses arising from sickness or injury at work.’
  • ‘People who can control their own diabetes save themselves a great deal of sickness.’

  Synonyms

  illness, disease, disorder, ailment, complaint, affliction, infection, malady, infirmity, indisposition

  View synonyms

  1. 1.1often with adjective or noun modifier A particular type of illness or disease.
     ‘botulism causes fodder sickness of horses’
     More example sentences

     • ‘a woman suffering an incurable sickness’
     • ‘Viruses are responsible for some minor sicknesses like colds or chickenpox as well as extremely serious diseases like smallpox or HIV / AIDS.’
     • ‘Farmers living in fumigated areas complain of myriad sicknesses, including skin problems and birth defects.’
     • ‘Antibiotics are strong medicines used to treat sicknesses called infections.’
     • ‘In the mountains, lots of fluid helps your body adjust to changing altitudes and prevents associated sicknesses, headaches, and pulmonary edema.’
     • ‘Dressed up as HIV / AIDS, a variety of old sicknesses have been reclassified.’
     • ‘The unit also deals with more mundane sicknesses, like cases of diarrhea.’
     • ‘Water-related diseases cause 80 percent of all the world's sicknesses, in the forms of hepatitis A, malaria, diarrhea, dysentery and schistosomiasis.’
     • ‘Aging has always been the cause of many sicknesses, including arthritis.’
     • ‘Europeans say use condoms, but there are sexual sicknesses that condoms cannot stop.’
     • ‘If soldiers use improper or worn clothing for even a short time, the chance of developing altitude and cold-related sicknesses increases significantly.’
     • ‘Nurses, doctors and management professionals are needed, particularly those with a background in foreign affairs, languages and tropical sicknesses.’
     • ‘During the conflict, frostbite, sun-burn, and other high-altitude sicknesses caused large numbers of casualties.’
     • ‘The demands for care that are reported are primarily visits to the doctor because of respiratory and digestive sicknesses and accidents.’
     • ‘The British Medical Journal said recently a poll of its readers had identified almost 200 conditions that are not real sicknesses.’
     • ‘Between bearing children and enduring lingering sicknesses, Susanna was unable to do much to supplement his income.’
     • ‘When it came to injuries and minor sicknesses, I trusted him with my life.’
     • ‘Right here at home, ‘country’ people have a lot of bush remedies for various sicknesses.’
     • ‘Many a time I found myself aghast at some of the personal details these writers exposed about their lives - drug use, fighting sicknesses such as Cancer or AIDS or their revelations of family issues or other domestic crises.’
     • ‘And you find you can't eliminate all the pests in the world, nor can you eliminate the pests in your own body, like cancers and other sicknesses.’
     • ‘Is this a consequence of sicknesses like AIDS and/or moral/sexual repression?’

• 2The feeling or fact of being affected with nausea or vomiting.

  ‘she felt a wave of sickness wash over her’

  More example sentences

  • ‘travel sickness’
  • ‘There may also be nausea, sickness or diarrhoea, and a feeling of exhaustion.’
  • ‘All the children were suffering from sickness, vomiting and twitching.’
  • ‘York District Hospital managers today appealed for visitors who have suffered sickness and diarrhoea to stay away from its grounds.’
  • ‘Now people who have suffered from diarrhoea or sickness within 48 hours of their intended visit to the hospital have been urged to stay away.’
  • ‘The arrested man vomited up blood, not drugs, and suffered diarrhoea and sickness for a week following this incident.’
  • ‘She is in her eighties, and suffering from sickness and diarrhoea.’
  • ‘She said he had suffered sickness and diarrhoea the day before he died.’
  • ‘They were very ill when they were born and suffered from sickness and diarrhoea.’
  • ‘Tasting as bad as it looked it was hard to swallow and even then it hit his stomach hard washing waves of sickness through him.’
  • ‘A wave of sickness washed over Aydah as he realized that what she was saying was absolutely true.’
  • ‘A knock to the head can cause symptoms such as loss of consciousness, light-headedness, dizziness, nausea, and sickness.’
  • ‘There are also more immediate benefits such as prevention of nausea and sickness caused by iron overload.’
  • ‘Bites from snakes can also contain venom, causing the symptoms of diarrhoea and sickness.’
  • ‘With this regimen, he had diarrhoea and sickness, and the acute attacks of gout continued.’
  • ‘The fact that father's sickness was exacerbated if not caused by over-indulgence in Mekhong is neither here nor there.’
  • ‘Just as she closed the door she felt a wave of sickness wash over her.’
  • ‘Lauren runs over to her mother and puts a hand to her mouth, hoping to stop the feeling of sickness that is washing over her.’
  • ‘Her problems started when young thirteen year old Ann was sent home from Clough House suffering sickness.’
  • ‘The tot had been suffering from sickness and a cold and had been closely watched by his parents throughout the night.’
  • ‘Hepatitis A is a viral infection that causes fever, sickness, stomach pain, vomiting and eventually jaundice.’

  Synonyms

  nausea, biliousness, queasiness

  vomiting, retching, gagging, upset stomach, stomach upset

  View synonyms