Sicker

Part of speech: adjective, comparative

Definitions

1. Characterized by a significantly greater degree of illness or distress than is typical; feeling extreme discomfort or being affected by an acute condition; also used informally to describe something particularly undesirable or troubling in a non-medical sense
2. Exhibiting a heightened state of illness or emotional distress, often beyond the usual level; experiencing substantial physical or mental discomfort; can also imply an aversion to something particularly unpleasant or distasteful
3. Indicating an intense level of sickness or a disturbing condition; being subjected to severe physical or mental unease; may refer to situations or things that elicit strong negative feelings or reactions

Etymology: "Sicker" is the comparative of "sick," formed by adding the ordinary comparative ending "-er" to the adjective, so it means "more seriously ill." Its ancestor in Old English was "sēocra," which already carried that same sense, so the form has been doing this job for well over a thousand years. The word's comparative shape is the regular one, but the adjective it comes from is not the one people might assume. The entry lists "sicker" in Middle English as a form of "siker," which is a separate word meaning "secure" or "sure." That word traces back through Old English "sicer" and a Proto-West Germanic root to the Latin "sēcūrus," meaning "without care." So "sure" and "secure" are close relatives of this word's neighbor, not of "sick" itself. The two words have historically blurred together. Because "siker" and "sicker" share a sound and a spelling pattern in Middle English, the boundary between them was never fixed. Today the comparative of "sick" survives in ordinary speech in its own right, while the older "secure" family has largely gone its separate way.

Synonyms: ill, unwell, ailing, unhealthy, feverish

Antonyms: healthier, better, well, healthy, fit