1
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
2
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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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of sickly
Working with his regular cinematographer Oleg Mutu, Loznitsa gives this prison — and authoritarianism itself — a sickly luster without ever denying its wretched stench.
—
Tim Grierson, Los Angeles Times, 26 Mar. 2026
In a large, rather attractive room, five men sat around a table, all in military uniforms, except for one sickly old man.
—Christine Smallwood, Harpers Magazine, 24 Mar. 2026
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
See All Example Sentences for sickly
Tim Grierson, Los Angeles Times, 26 Mar. 2026
In a large, rather attractive room, five men sat around a table, all in military uniforms, except for one sickly old man.
—Christine Smallwood, Harpers Magazine, 24 Mar. 2026
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
See All Example Sentences for sickly
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sickly
Adjective
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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
Adjective
-
Both fruit and tuber are poisonous.—
Joshua Siskin,
Oc Register,
16 Apr. 2026
-
When Floyd is found dead at a community pool surrounded by a poisonous cocktail and a vintage Playgirl magazine, two detectives (Richard Jenkins and Joy Sunday) begin unraveling the bizarre chain of events that led to his death.—
Clayton Davis,
Variety,
15 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
After delivery, if a baby needs to be admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), The Women’s Hospital is fully equipped to care for premature and medically fragile infants in our 24/7 dedicated, on-site level III Irma Feldcamp NICU.—
MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center,
Oc Register,
16 Apr. 2026
-
Israel's continued attacks in Lebanon have posed an ongoing threat to the fragile truce, with Israel disputing that the agreement extended to its operations against Hezbollah.—
NPR Staff,
NPR,
16 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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The former Exide Technologies plant in Vernon melted down pallets of lead-acid car batteries in blast furnaces for nearly a century, blanketing up to 10,000 nearby properties with toxic dust, according to state officials.—
Tony Briscoe,
Los Angeles Times,
11 Apr. 2026
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Oil prices are once again surging in the wake of war in the Middle East, driving up the cost of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel and threatening a return to stagflation – the toxic mix of higher prices and slower growth that made economic life so miserable a half century ago.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
11 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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Often, Marcano had to stand in line for hours with her sick daughter to insure that Amalia was seen by Dilley’s medical team.—
Sarah Stillman,
New Yorker,
13 Apr. 2026
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There have been case reports of people getting very sick from injecting the wrong dose of a peptide or having contaminated peptides.—
Jacqueline Howard,
CNN Money,
13 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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The soil may contain pathogens, pesticides and other unhealthful things.—
Joan Morris,
Mercury News,
9 Feb. 2026
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The change comes amid concerns about fireworks causing unhealthful air.—
Rong-Gong Lin II,
Los Angeles Times,
19 June 2025
Adjective
-
Small hail is possible, and an isolated weak/brief tornado can't be ruled out.—
Mary Ours,
CBS News,
18 Apr. 2026
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Sean McMorris, transparency, ethics and accountability program manager with California Common Cause, a nonpartisan government watchdog, said in an email Friday that heavy reliance on outside vendors can increase the risk of fraud or mismanagement if oversight is weak.—
Teresa Liu,
Daily News,
18 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
The weather conditions prompted the South Coast Air District to issue dust advisories for parts of the Coachella Valley, warning that strong winds could expose people to unhealthy dust levels.—
Tony Briscoe,
Los Angeles Times,
16 Apr. 2026
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Not that anyone is likely to form this kind of unhealthy attachment to Loop.—
Nina Metz,
Chicago Tribune,
15 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Sickly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sickly. Accessed 20 Apr. 2026.
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