What does "sickly" mean?
Sickly: Producing, or tending to, disease; as, a sickly autumn; a sickly climate. Cowper.
Additional senses
- 2.Appearing as if sick; weak; languid; pale. The moon grows sickly at the sight of day. Dryden. Nor torrid summer's sickly smile. Keble.
- 3.Tending to produce nausea; sickening; as, a sickly smell; sickly sentimentality.
- 4.In a sick manner or condition; ill. My people sickly [with ill will] beareth our marriage. Chaucer.
- 5.To make sick or sickly; -- with over, and probably only in the past participle. [R.] Sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought. Shak. Sentiments sicklied over . . . with that cloying heaviness into which unvaried sweetness is too apt to subside. Jeffrey.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00