sicken
pronunciation
How to pronounce sicken in British English:
UK [ˈsɪkən]
How to pronounce sicken in American English:
US [ˈsɪkən]
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- Verb:
- cause aversion in; offend the moral sense of
- get sick
- upset and make nauseated
- make sick or ill
Word Origin
- sicken (v.)
- c. 1200, "to become ill," from sick (adj.) + -en (1). Transitive sense of "to make sick" is recorded from 1610s. Related: Sickened; sickening. The earlier verb was simply sick (Old English seocan) "to be ill, fall ill."
Example
- 1. This makes sense : in those areas with a high level of radiation , living things would tend to die or sicken and fail to reproduce .
- 2. Surveys since then suggest that the dramatic fall in the number of americans who sicken or die during heatwaves is a direct result of widening air-conditioner ownership , from 68 % of american households in 1993 to nearly 90 % today .
- 3. He worries that radiation exposure could sicken his son .
- 4. The coastal population began to sicken .
- 5. Confirming that the virus is very old also helps explain why it infects almost all african monkeys but does not sicken them .