# sickness

/ˈsɪknəs/ (US) · /sˈɪknəs/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/sickness
Updated: 2026-06-20

## Senses

### 2. nausea

noun · CEFR B1

the feeling that you are going to vomit.

For teachers: a sensation of nausea or the act of vomiting. Often used in compound words like 'travel sickness' or 'sea sickness'.

- The bumpy car ride gave the children a feeling of sickness.
- She suffered from severe morning sickness during the first trimester, making it difficult to maintain her usual work schedule.

### 3. grammatical error

noun · CEFR C2 · Technical

using a rare or difficult grammar form in the wrong place.

For teachers: the analogical misuse of a rarer or marked grammatical case in place of a more common or unmarked one.

- The professor explained how certain language learners develop a sickness in their use of case endings.
- The paper argues that the observed sickness in the dialect's case system is a result of prolonged contact with neighboring languages.

Usage: Used specifically within the field of linguistics to describe certain types of morphological errors.

Teaching tip: This is a highly specialized term in linguistics; general learners will never encounter it outside of academic study.

## Examples

- She stayed home from work because of sickness.
- The company offers ten days of paid leave for sickness or family emergencies each year.
- While the physical symptoms of the sickness were mild, the psychological toll of the isolation period proved much harder for the patients to endure.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.