stricken

adjective

strick·​en ˈstri-kən 

1

a

: afflicted or overwhelmed by or as if by disease, misfortune, or sorrow

… hastened out, with a stricken conscience, to remedy the omission.

—George Eliot

—often used with by or with

—often used in combination

too stricken by terror to speak

a family stricken with grief

disease-stricken

b

: made incapable or unfit

rescuers were sent to the stricken ship

2

: hit or wounded by or as if by a missile

the deer had been stricken by an arrow

Examples of stricken in a Sentence

I saw her stricken face looking up at us.

Recent Examples on the Web

In Panama, people rushed to donate supplies to Venezuela, part of a surge across Latin America to help the stricken country. — Helen Regan, CNN Money, 26 June 2026

In the wake of that moment, Jeremy Allen White looks absolutely stricken. — Jen Chaney, Vulture, 26 June 2026

In a historic first, Northrop Grumman is set to launch a rescue mission to save a NASA space telescope from plunging into the Earth's atmosphere using a service robot to capture the stricken craft and boost it into a new, safer orbit. — David Szondy june 18, New Atlas, 18 June 2026

The situation only worsens after 9/11, the immediate, unreal impact of which Rivilis sharply captures with a steady pan across a classroom of stunned students, their faces in various states of stricken disbelief, if not simply in their hands. — Guy Lodge, Variety, 20 May 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English striken, from past participle of striken to strike

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing stricken

• conscience-stricken
• grief-stricken
• panic-stricken
• planet-stricken
• poverty-stricken

Rhymes for stricken

• chicken
• likin
• quicken
• sicken
• thicken
• indican

Kids Definition

stricken

adjective

strick·​en ˈstrik-ən 

1

: troubled with disease, misfortune, or sorrow

2

: hit or wounded by or as if by an object that was thrown