as in complainer
a person who is often or always worried about being ill
My brother is a real hypochondriac. Every time he reads about some new disease, he thinks he has it.
Related Words
Relevance
as in hypochondriacal
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of hypochondriac
USA TODAY, 5 Jan. 2025
Two hypochondriac siblings have taken to the mountains to avoid all electromagnetic frequencies in this hypnotic lesson in claustrophobia and the evocative power of light.
—J. Kim Murphy, Variety, 18 Dec. 2024
Eliana Dockterman, TIME, 8 Oct. 2024
They are widely seen as overly anxious hypochondriacs.
—Evan Malmgren, Harper's Magazine, 21 Aug. 2024
See All Example Sentences for hypochondriac
Noun
As the moon clashes with Mercury, beware of a hypochondriac streak.
Read the full Cancer Daily Horoscope
Leo (July 23 - August 22)
Emotional ups and downs?
—USA TODAY, 5 Jan. 2025
Two hypochondriac siblings have taken to the mountains to avoid all electromagnetic frequencies in this hypnotic lesson in claustrophobia and the evocative power of light.
—J. Kim Murphy, Variety, 18 Dec. 2024
Adjective
To position Cohn in bed next to Trump, a notorious hypochondriac, highlights their strained relationship as Trump rose and Cohn fell in New York high society.
—Eliana Dockterman, TIME, 8 Oct. 2024
They are widely seen as overly anxious hypochondriacs.
—Evan Malmgren, Harper's Magazine, 21 Aug. 2024
See All Example Sentences for hypochondriac
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hypochondriac
Noun
-
The faculty experience has been that administrations often side with the complainers.—
Louis Menand,
New Yorker,
26 Sep. 2025
-
Recognize Quieter Customers Celebrate the non-complainers.—
Expert Panel®,
Forbes.com,
11 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Her mother, Pattie (Alli Mauzey), is ludicrously hypochondriacal, as if atoning for the chromosomal accident that produced her quick-aging child.—
New York Times,
New York Times,
8 Dec. 2021
-
Many women with myasthenia gravis, an autoimmune neuromuscular disease first named in 1877, were misdiagnosed as mentally unwell and dismissed as hypochondriacal well into the 20th century.—
Elinor Cleghorn,
WSJ,
12 June 2021
Adjective
-
In a country where disabled people are overrepresented in jails and prisons, psychiatric institutions and police encounters, this isn’t just theoretical.—
Kate Caldwell,
Mercury News,
30 Sep. 2025
-
The blackout is said to have come after Afghanistan’s 9,350-kilometer fiber optic network was disabled, leaving flights grounded, banks frozen, and millions of citizens and businesses cut off.—
Emma Bussey,
FOXNews.com,
30 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Hypochondriac.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hypochondriac. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share