sickening 1 of 2

Definition of sickeningnext

sickening

2 of 2

verb

present participle of sicken

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 sickening
Adjective
Andes virus, a type of hantavirus, has sparked global concern in recent weeks after causing the death of three passengers and sickening at least eight others aboard the MV Hondius, a cruise ship traveling from Argentina across the Atlantic. Claire Cameron, Scientific American, 18 May 2026 Accumulating plastic waste is overwhelming waterways and oceans, sickening marine life and threatening human health. Susanne Rust follow, Los Angeles Times, 7 May 2026
Verb
Fecal matter may also have contaminated the drinking water supply at Vindolanda fort, sickening the residents. Claire Cameron, Scientific American, 22 Dec. 2025 Flu season was particularly brutal last year, sickening at least 47 million Americans, hospitalizing 610,000 and killing 27,000, according to the CDC. Liz Szabo, NBC news, 25 Oct. 2025 See All Example Sentences for sickening
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sickening
Adjective
  • The president announced the work in April during an unrelated Oval Office appearance, saying he was inspired by complaints from a friend visiting from Germany who called the pool dark and disgusting.
    Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 4 June 2026
  • Seeing a game get shipped off to a foreign land for no good reason is even more disgusting.
    Austin Perry OutKick, FOXNews.com, 3 June 2026
Verb
  • The young Forster recoiled from the school’s culture of authoritarianism and militaristic chauvinism, which may have found expression in the students’ often appalling attitudes toward their own mothers.
    Jessica Winter, New Yorker, 7 May 2026
  • Of all the recent poster boys for appalling misbehavior by the State Police, Michael Proctor would of course rank number one.
    Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 4 Jan. 2026
Adjective
  • The Savages’ social standing has dwindled to the point that only their equally horrible, grasping neighbors, the Bennetts (Richard McCabe and Vicki Pepperdine, both very funny), will fraternize with them.
    Guy Lodge, Variety, 4 June 2026
  • Without an ecosystem of competitive bids like Kalshi's, the customer usually walks away with a horrible deal.
    Ananya Chetia, CNBC, 3 June 2026
Verb
  • While there are dismemberments and other bits of gruesome violence to be found in the film, Badlands is largely aimed at endearing its audience rather than repulsing them.
    Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 4 Nov. 2025
Adjective
  • That’s an awful lot of people living with life-changing consequences.
    Jordan Moreau, Variety, 3 June 2026
  • But for a restaurant that serves plenty of dishes seemingly designed for white tablecloths, there’s still an awful lot of eating done with your hands.
    Colin Wrenn, Denver Post, 3 June 2026
Verb
  • The complications are horrifying doctors.
    Sara Moniuszko, USA Today, 29 May 2026
  • In the years since Boogie Nights, Leo has made an unlikely hit out of The Man in the Iron Mask, then took the role of Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, showing off his range and turning that surreal and often horrifying movie into another $100 million feather in his cap.
    Joe Reid, Vulture, 13 Mar. 2026
Adjective
  • Where the movie’s true eccentricity comes in is in its combination of breezy comedy with shocking brutality and gore, perhaps most exemplified in an oddly casual moment in a morgue where Seagal and Wayans find a clue in the form of a serial number on a dead woman’s breast implant.
    Jim Hemphill, IndieWire, 5 June 2026
  • Crayton said that the decision to allow Alabama to ignore the lower court’s ruling was shocking.
    Adam Serwer, The Atlantic, 5 June 2026
Adjective
  • Lemieux was 37, and had a reputation as one of those players who knew where to be, and when, around the ugly areas on the ice in a playoff game.
    Mac Engel May 29, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 29 May 2026
  • We, viewers and voters, are subjected to very ugly photographs and rhetoric.
    DP Opinion, Denver Post, 29 May 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Sickening.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sickening. Accessed 10 Jun. 2026.

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