| Library / English Dictionary |
SICKNESS
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Impairment of normal physiological function affecting part or all of an organism
Synonyms:
illness; malady; sickness; unwellness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("sickness" is a kind of...):
health problem; ill health; unhealthiness (a state in which you are unable to function normally and without pain)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sickness"):
growth ((pathology) an abnormal proliferation of tissue (as in a tumor))
toxaemia; toxaemia of pregnancy; toxemia; toxemia of pregnancy (an abnormal condition of pregnancy characterized by hypertension and edema and protein in the urine)
ozone sickness (illness that can occur to persons exposed to ozone in high-altitude aircraft; characterized by sleepiness and headache and chest pains and itchiness)
indisposition (a slight illness)
hypermotility (excessive movement; especially excessive motility of the gastrointestinal tract)
disease (an impairment of health or a condition of abnormal functioning)
lead poisoning; plumbism; saturnism (toxic condition produced by the absorption of excessive lead into the system)
food poisoning; gastrointestinal disorder (illness caused by poisonous or contaminated food)
aeroembolism; air embolism; bends; caisson disease; decompression sickness; gas embolism (pain resulting from rapid change in pressure)
collapse; prostration (an abrupt failure of function or complete physical exhaustion)
catastrophic illness (severe illness requiring prolonged hospitalization or recovery; usually involves high costs for hospitals and doctors and medicines)
anuresis; anuria (inability to urinate)
amyloidosis (a disorder characterized by deposit of amyloid in organs or tissues; often secondary to chronic rheumatoid arthritis or tuberculosis or multiple myeloma)
ague (a fit of shivering or shaking)
condition (an illness, disease, or other medical problem)
Derivation:
sick (affected by an impairment of normal physical or mental function)
Sense 2
Meaning:
The state that precedes vomiting
Synonyms:
nausea; sickness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("sickness" is a kind of...):
symptom ((medicine) any sensation or change in bodily function that is experienced by a patient and is associated with a particular disease)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sickness"):
kinetosis; motion sickness (the state of being dizzy or nauseated because of the motions that occur while traveling in or on a moving vehicle)
morning sickness (nausea early in the day; a characteristic symptom in the early months of pregnancy)
qualm; queasiness; squeamishness (a mild state of nausea)
Derivation:
sick (feeling nausea; feeling about to vomit)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Defectiveness or unsoundness
Example:
a great sickness of his judgment
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("sickness" is a kind of...):
defectiveness; faultiness (the state of being defective)
Context examples:
She passed only from feelings of sickness to shudderings of horror; and from hot fits of fever to cold.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
He no sooner began to drink of what they brought him, than he felt his sickness leave him, and was as strong and well as in his younger days.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
Wit, lad, is a catching thing, like the itch or the sweating sickness.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I thought of Holmes tossing upon his bed of sickness and counting the minutes, perhaps, until I could bring help to him.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I'll call Hannah, she knows all about sickness.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
She trembled, her eyes were fixed on the ground, and her lips became whiter than even sickness had left them.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
Every atom of your flesh is as dear to me as my own: in pain and sickness it would still be dear.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Then these agonies began swiftly to subside, and I came to myself as if out of a great sickness.
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Martin was not used to sickness, and when Maria and her little girl left him, he essayed to get up and dress.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
Suddenly, however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
