sick

«sick» in Mova's school dictionary: ill, not healthy — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

adjective (sick, sicker, sickest); noun (sick, informal UK = vomit)

meaning for a pupil

1) Sick means ill, not healthy. tree →

2) To be sick (UK) or to feel sick can mean to throw up food from your stomach (to vomit). tree →

3) Sick of something means bored or annoyed with it because there has been too much of it. tree →

4) In slang, «sick» can mean very cool or great. tree →

sense in the lessons

In health lessons you learn signs of being sick: fever, cough, sore throat, feeling sick; and that germs spread, so you wash your hands and stay home when you are sick. In stories a sick character may stay in bed or go to a doctor. Phrases: feel sick, be sick, off sick, sick day, carsick, seasick, homesick, sick and tired.

examples

• I stayed home from school because I was sick. tree →
• I feel sick after eating too many sweets. tree →
• The dog was sick on the carpet. tree →
• Wash your hands so you don't get sick. tree →
• Some people get carsick on long trips. tree →
• She was homesick at summer camp and missed her family. tree →
• I'm sick of rain; I want to play outside! tree →
• Look after a sick friend by bringing them a card. tree →
• Sick and exhausted, he reached home. tree →

note

In the UK «I was sick» often means «I vomited», while in the USA it usually means «I was ill». Compound words: carsick, seasick, airsick, homesick (missing home). Comparison: sicker, sickest. The noun for the state is «sickness». The slang meaning «great» is only for very informal talk.

In the corpora

• Morning sickness is feeling or being sick in early pregnancy, and despite the name it can happen at any time of day.
• A hangover is how the body feels the day after drinking too much alcohol: headache, tiredness, thirst and feeling sick.
• Many sharks are endangered because they grow slowly and have few young, and they keep oceans healthy by eating sick fish.
• Macadamia nuts can make dogs weak, wobbly and sick for a day or two, and nobody knows exactly why.
• A poison that only makes a deer feel sick can be very dangerous for a small child.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «sick» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.