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.
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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
Hal Rosenbluth, STAT, 17 June 2024
Easing the burden on our country’s emergency rooms could very well put us on the path to more effective, efficient patient care for everyone—including hypochondriacs.
—Eva Roytburg, Fortune, 7 June 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
While hypochondriacs can tell you the names of the people staffing the emergency department as easily as the names of their kids, primary care also has a meaningful frontline role to play.
—Hal Rosenbluth, STAT, 17 June 2024
Easing the burden on our country’s emergency rooms could very well put us on the path to more effective, efficient patient care for everyone—including hypochondriacs.
—Eva Roytburg, Fortune, 7 June 2024
See All Example Sentences for hypochondriac
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hypochondriac
Adjective
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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
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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
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Two women – his mom Elsie Lucero who cared tirelessly for his late-brother Eddie, who was physically and mentally disabled, and his late sister Margie who died of cancer in 2018 and adored her daughter Sarah who has Angelman Syndrome, an extreme form of Down Syndrome.—
Randy Myers,
Mercury News,
10 Sep. 2025
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Access to Work helps employers hire disabled people 100% of employers said their disabled staff would struggle to do their jobs without it.—
Nancy Doyle,
Forbes.com,
9 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Hypochondriac.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hypochondriac. Accessed 17 Sep. 2025.
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