sickly
[adjective]
Synonyms:
- unhealthy, ailing, delicate, faint, feeble, infirm, pallid, peaky, wan, weak
- nauseating, cloying, mawkish

---

Antonyms: robust
Contrasted words: hale, hearty, healthy, well
Related Words: cranky, down, pimping, puny, sickish, weak, diseased, unhealthy

---

English Thesaurus: ill, sick, not very well, unwell, poorly, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

sick‧ly /ˈsɪkli/ adjective
[Word Family: noun: sick, the sick, sickness, sicko; adjective: sick, sickening, sickly; adverb: sickeningly, sickly; verb: sicken]

1. a sickly person or animal is weak, unhealthy, and often ill:
a sickly child
She looked pale and sickly.

2. especially British English a sickly smell, taste etc is unpleasant and makes you feel sick:
A sickly smell clung to his clothes and hair.

3. a sickly colour or light is unpleasantly pale or weak:
The walls were painted a sickly green.
a pale sickly moon
—sickly adverb:
a sickly sweet perfume

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

ill [not before noun] especially British English suffering from a disease or not feeling well:
Her mother is seriously ill in hospital.
I woke up feeling really ill.
sick especially American English ill:
She’s been sick with the flu.
a sick child
Dan got sick on vacation.
not very well [not before noun] ill, but not seriously ill:
Sarah’s not very well – she has a throat infection.
unwell [not before noun] formal ill:
The singer had been unwell for some time.
Symptoms include fever, aching muscles, and feeling generally unwell.
poorly [not before noun] British English spoken ill:
Your grandmother’s been very poorly lately.
in a bad way [not before noun] very ill because of a serious injury or disease:
You’d better call an ambulance – she looks like she’s in a bad way.
be off sick British English, be out sick American English to be not at work because of an illness:
Two teachers were off sick yesterday.
under the weather (also off colour British English) [not before noun] informal slightly ill:
Sorry I haven’t called you – I’ve been a bit under the weather lately.
You look a bit off colour – are you sure you’re OK?
run down [not before noun] feeling slightly ill and tired all the time, for example because you have been working too hard, or not eating well:
Some people take extra vitamins if they are feeling run down.
in poor health unhealthy and often ill:
Chopin was already in poor health when he arrived on the island.
delicate weak and likely to become ill easily:
She was delicate and pale and frequently complained of headaches.
He had a delicate constitution and throughout his adult life suffered from various illnesses.
sickly a sickly child is often ill:
He was a sickly child and spent a lot of time at home on his own.
His younger daughter was sickly and died when she was young.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

sweet sweet food or drink has had sugar added or contains natural sugars:
Italian oranges are very sweet.
a cup of hot sweet tea
sugary sweet because a lot of sugar has been added:
Sugary foods are bad for your teeth.
sickly British English tasting unpleasantly sweet:
The dessert was rather sweet and sickly.
a sickly sweet fruit drink
cloying tasting or smelling unpleasantly sweet:
I find strawberry and peach drinks too cloying.
the cloying smell of fish oil
delicious having a very good taste:
This cake is delicious!
a delicious meal
disgusting/revolting having a very bad taste:
The medicine tasted disgusting.
They had to eat revolting things, like fish eyes.
tasty especially spoken tasting good and with plenty of flavour:
She cooked us a simple but tasty meal.
That was really tasty!
sour/tart having a taste that stings your tongue slightly, like lemon does – used especially when this is rather unpleasant:
The apples were a little sour.
The wine has rather a tart taste, which not everyone will like.
tangy having a taste that stings your tongue slightly, like lemon does, in a way that seems good:
The dressing was nice and tangy.
bitter having a strong taste which is not sweet and is sometimes rather unpleasant – used for example about black coffee, or chocolate without sugar:
bitter chocolate
The medicine had rather a bitter taste.
Hops give beer its distinctive bitter taste.
salty containing a lot of salt:
Danish salami has a salty flavour.
hot/spicy having a burning taste because it contains strong spices:
I love hot curries.
a spicy tomato sauce
piquant /ˈpiːkənt/ formal a little spicy – used especially by people who write about food. This word can sound rather pretentious in everyday conversation:
cooked vegetables in a piquant sauce
mild not having a strong or hot taste – usually used about foods that can sometimes be spicy:
a mild curry
bland not having an interesting taste:
I found the sauce rather bland.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲