Meanings
nounsickness (usually uncountable, plural sicknesses)
plural sicknesses · alternative obsolete sicknes
- countableuncountableusuallyThe quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; an illness.
I do lament the sickness of the king.
c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]2 more examples
18th century, Alexander Pope, Epistle to Miss Blount Trust not too much your now resistless charms; Those, age or sickness soon or late disarms.
Sickness is a dangerous indulgence at my time of life.
23 March 1816, Jane Austen, a letterSynonyms: disease, disorder, ailment, malady, infirmity, affliction, ailment, coath
- uncountableusuallyNausea; qualmishness; as, sickness of stomach.
- uncountableusuallyhuman sciencesThe analogical misuse of a rarer or marked grammatical case in the place of a more common or unmarked case.
We can now return to the question of how we treat the phenomenon of dative sickness (the possibility of substituting dative in place of accusative on the experiencer nominal) in Icelandic.
1997, Michael B. Smith, “§ 4.7”, in Quirky Case in Icelandic
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; an illness.
More synonyms by meaning
nounimpairment of normal physiological function affecting part or all of an organism
Similar
Broader
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Old Englishsēocnes
- Middle Englishsikness
- Englishsickness
Inherited from Middle English sikness, from Old English sēocnes, sēocness, sēocnys, sēocnyss. By surface analysis, sick + -ness.
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans siekte
- siektethe quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
Ancient Greek νόσος
- νόσος (nósos)the quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
Arabic مَرَض
- مَرَض (maraḍ)the quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
Bulgarian болест, гадене
- болест (bolest)the quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
- гадене (gadene)nausea; qualmishness; as, sickness of stomach
- повдигане (povdigane)nausea; qualmishness; as, sickness of stomach
Catalan malaltia
- malaltiathe quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
Chinese Mandarin 疾病
- 疾病 (jíbìng)the quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
Czech nemoc
- nemocthe quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
Dutch ziekte, misselijkheid
- ziektethe quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
- misselijkheidnausea; qualmishness; as, sickness of stomach
Finnish sairaus, pahoinvointi
- sairausthe quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
- pahoinvointinausea; qualmishness; as, sickness of stomach
French maladie, nausée
- maladiethe quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
- nauséenausea; qualmishness; as, sickness of stomach
German Krankheit, Brechreiz
- Krankheitthe quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
- Brechreiznausea; qualmishness; as, sickness of stomach
- Nauseanausea; qualmishness; as, sickness of stomach
- Übelkeitnausea; qualmishness; as, sickness of stomach
- Übelseinnausea; qualmishness; as, sickness of stomach
Greek ασθένεια, νοῦσος
- ασθένεια (asthéneia)the quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
- νοῦσος (noûsos)the quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
- ναυτία (naftía)nausea; qualmishness; as, sickness of stomach
Hindi रोग
- रोग (rog)the quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
Hungarian betegség, megbetegedés
- betegségthe quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
- megbetegedésthe quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
Irish tinneas, othras
- tinneasthe quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
- othrasthe quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
- galarthe quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
Japanese 病, 病気
- 病 (yamai)the quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
- 病気 (byōki)the quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
- 吐き気 (hakike)nausea; qualmishness; as, sickness of stomach
Korean 질병
- 질병 (jilbyeong)the quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
Latin morbus, aegror
- morbusthe quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
- aegrorthe quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
- aegritūdōthe quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
- nauseanausea; qualmishness; as, sickness of stomach
Māori māruru
- māruruthe quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
Norwegian Bokmål sykdom, sjukdom
- sykdomthe quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
- sjukdomthe quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
Polish choroba
- chorobathe quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
Portuguese doença, enjoo
- doençathe quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
- enjoonausea; qualmishness; as, sickness of stomach
Romanian maladie, boală
- maladiethe quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
- boalăthe quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
- greațănausea; qualmishness; as, sickness of stomach
Russian боле́знь, тошнота́
- боле́знь (boléznʹ)the quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
- тошнота́ (tošnotá)nausea; qualmishness; as, sickness of stomach
- рво́та (rvóta)nausea; qualmishness; as, sickness of stomach
Scottish Gaelic galar, tinneas
- galarthe quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
- tinneasthe quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
- euslaintthe quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
Spanish enfermedad, dolencia
- enfermedadthe quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
- dolenciathe quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
Swahili ugonjwa
- ugonjwathe quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
Tagalog sakit
- sakitthe quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
Ukrainian хворо́ба
- хворо́ба (xvoróba)the quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
Yiddish קראַנקהייט, קרענק
- קראַנקהייט (krankheyt)the quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
- קרענק (krenk)the quality or state of being sick or diseased; illness; disease or malady
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with sickness
All rhymes →Cite this entry
APA
sickness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sickness
MLA
“sickness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sickness. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sickness,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sickness.
Source: sickness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.