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What is the difference between poorly and sick?

poorly | sick |

Poorly is a synonym of sick.


As adjectives the difference between poorly and sick

is that poorly is ill, unwell, sick while sick is in poor health.

As a adverb poorly

is in a poor manner or condition; without plenty, or sufficiency, or suitable provision for comfort.

As a noun sick is

sick people in general as a group.

As a verb sick is

(obsolete|intransitive) to fall sick; to sicken or sick can be (rare) (sic).

poorly

English

Adverb

(en adverb)
  • In a poor manner or condition; without plenty, or sufficiency, or suitable provision for comfort.
    • to live poorly
  • With little or no success; indifferently; with little profit or advantage.
    • to do poorly in business
  • Meanly; without spirit.
  • * Dryden
    • Nor is their courage or their wealth so low, / That from his wars they poorly would retire.
  • Without skill or merit.
    • He plays tennis poorly .

    Usage notes

    * Adjectives to which "poorly" is often applied: planned, conceived, executed, implemented, performing, managed, controlled, designed, represented, differentiated, suited, built, dressed, soluble, ventilated, known, paid, etc.

    Adjective

    (-)
  • ill, unwell, sick

    • Synonyms

    * See also

    sick

    English

    (wikipedia sick)

    Etymology 1

    Middle English sek, sik, from (etyl) .

    Adjective

    (er)
  • In poor health.
  • * {{quote-book, year=a1420, year_published=1894, author=The British Museum Additional MS, 12,056
    • , by=(Lanfranc of Milan), title=Lanfranc's "Science of cirurgie." citation , chapter=Wounds complicated by the Dislocation of a Bone, isbn=1163911380 , publisher=K. Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co, location=London, editor=Robert von Fleischhacker , page=63, passage=Ne take noon hede to brynge togidere þe parties of þe boon þat is to-broken or dislocate, til viij. daies ben goon in þe wyntir, & v. in þe somer; for þanne it schal make quytture, and be sikir from swellynge; & þanne brynge togidere þe brynkis eiþer þe disiuncture after þe techynge þat schal be seid in þe chapitle of algebra.}}
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
    • , chapter=7 citation , passage=‘Children crawled over each other like little grey worms in the gutters,’ he said. ‘The only red things about them were their buttocks and they were raw. Their faces looked as if snails had slimed on them and their mothers were like great sick beasts whose byres had never been cleared. […]’}}
  • (colloquial) Mentally unstable, disturbed.
  • (colloquial) In bad taste.
  • Having an urge to vomit.
  • (slang) Very good, excellent, awesome.
  • In poor condition.
  • (agriculture) Failing to sustain adequate harvests of crop, usually specified.
  • Tired of or annoyed by something.
    • Synonyms
    * (in poor health) ill, not well, poorly (British), sickly, unwell * (mentally unstable) disturbed, twisted, warped. * (having an urge to vomit) nauseated, nauseous * rad, wicked * See also
    Antonyms
    * (in poor health) fit, healthy, well * (excellent) crap, naff, uncool
    Derived terms
    * airsick * be sick * brainsick * carsick * dogsick * fall sick * heartsick * homesick * iron-sick, iron sick, ironsick * junk sick * lovesick * nailsick, nail sick, nailsick * seasick * sick and tired * sick and twisted * sick as a dog * sick bag * sickbay * sickbed * sick building syndrome * sick day * sicken * sickening * sickhouse * sickie * sickish * sick joke * sickly * sickness * sick note * sick pay * sick puppy * sicko * sickout * sickroom * sick to one's stomach * soulsick * thoughtsick

    Noun

    (-)
  • Sick people in general as a group.
    • We have to cure the sick .
  • (colloquial) vomit.
    • He lay there in a pool of his own sick .
    Synonyms
    * (vomit) See

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To vomit.
  • :I woke up at 4 am and sicked on the floor.
  • (obsolete) To fall sick; to sicken.
  • * circa 1598 , William Shakespeare, King Henry IV, part 2 :
    • Our great-grandsire, Edward, sick'd and died.

    Etymology 2

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (rare)
  • * 1920 , James Oliver Curwood, "Back to God's Country"
    • "Wapi," she almost screamed, "go back! Sick' 'em, Wapi—'''sick''' 'em—'''sick''' 'em—' sick 'em!"
  • * 1938 , Eugene Gay-Tifft, translator, The Saga of Frank Dover by Johannes Buchholtz, 2005 Kessinger Publishing edition, ISBN 141915222X, page 125,
    • When we were at work swabbing the deck, necessarily barelegged, Pelle would sick the dog on us; and it was an endless source of pleasure to him when the dog succeeded in fastening its teeth in our legs and making the blood run down our ankles.
  • * 1957 , , 1991 LB Books edition, page 154,
    • "...is just something God sicks on people who have the gall to accuse Him of having created an ugly world."
  • * 2001 (publication date), Anna Heilman, Never Far Away: The Auschwitz Chronicles of Anna Heilman , University of Calgary Press, ISBN 1552380408, page 82,
    • Now they find a new entertainment: they sick the dog on us.
    1000 English basic words