SICKLY Synonyms: 59 Similar and Opposite Words

sickly

adjective

ˈsi-klē

as in frail

chronically or repeatedly suffering from poor health a sickly foal that seemed to catch everything that the other horses had

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in poisonous

bad for the well-being of the body lungs scarred by years of exposure to the sickly air of the coal mines

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

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Recent Examples of sickly The smoke kept rising and the clouds continued to throb with sickly yellow-and-black whorls until just after sunset, when the boiling mass of vapor suddenly turned pink and scarlet, like a poisonous flower opening its petals. —

New York Times, 16 Mar. 2026 His father was sickly, and Jack had to work in a cannery in West Oakland. —

Carl Nolte, San Francisco Chronicle, 28 Feb. 2026 Planting too early in the season when the soil is cool might result in a sickly plant all season long or seeds that won't germinate. —

David Beaulieu, The Spruce, 15 Feb. 2026 Cupid and Psyche 85, in its sickly plastic way, is a profoundly uplifting record. —

Andy Cush, Pitchfork, 15 Feb. 2026 See All Example Sentences for sickly

Recent Examples of Synonyms for sickly

Adjective

Physically frail, yet in full verbal command, Julian doesn’t talk to Lori so much as at her, pausing only to fire off questions that harden, in midair, into assumptions.

— Justin Chang, New Yorker, 3 Apr. 2026
Meyerson had become frail and disoriented by the spring of 2019.

— Carol Marbin Miller, Miami Herald, 2 Apr. 2026