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Sickly vs Shaky - What's the difference?

sickly | shaky |

As adjectives the difference between sickly and shaky

is that sickly is frequently ill; often in poor health; given to becoming ill while shaky is shaking]] or [[tremble|trembling.

As a verb sickly

is to make sickly.

As an adverb sickly

is in a sick manner.

sickly

English

Adjective

(er)
  • Frequently ill; often in poor health; given to becoming ill.
    • a sickly child
  • Having the appearance of sickness or ill health; appearing ill, infirm or unhealthy; pale.
    • a sickly plant
  • * Dryden
    • The moon grows sickly at the sight of day.
  • Weak; faint; suggesting unhappiness.
    • a sickly smile
  • Somewhat sick; disposed to illness; attended with disease.
  • * Shakespeare
    • This physic but prolongs thy sickly days.
  • Tending to produce disease.
    • a sickly''' autumn; a '''sickly climate
    (Cowper)
  • Tending to produce nausea; sickening.
    • a sickly''' smell; '''sickly sentimentality

    Related terms

    * sickliness

    Verb

  • To make sickly.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought.
  • * 1840 , S. M. Heaton, George Heaton, Thoughts on the Litany, by a naval officer's orphan daughter (page 58)
  • * 1871 , Gail Hamilton, Country living and country thinking (page 109)
    • He evidently thinks the sweet little innocents never heard or thought of such a thing before, and would go on burying their curly heads in books, and sicklying their rosy faces with "the pale cast of thought" till the end of time

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • In a sick manner.
  • * 2010 , Rowan Somerville, The End of Sleep (page 66)
    • The creaseless horizontal face of the giant smiled sickly , leering.

    shaky

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Shaking]] or [[tremble, trembling.
    • a shaky spot in a marsh
    a shaky hand
  • Nervous]]; [[anxious, Anxious.
    • He’s a nice guy but when he talks to me, he acts shaky .
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2011 , date=April 10 , author=Alistair Magowan , title=Aston Villa 1 - 0 Newcastle , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Villa had plenty of opportunities to make the game safe after a shaky start and despite not reaching any great heights, they were resolute enough to take control of the game in the second half. }}
  • (of wood) Full of shakes or cracks; cracked.
    • shaky timber
  • * (seeCites2)
  • Easily shaken; tottering; unsound.
    • a shaky constitution
    shaky business credit

    Synonyms

    * (not held or fixed securely and likely to fall over) precarious, rickety, unsteady, tottering, unsafe, unstable, wobbly

    Derived terms

    * shakiness * shakycam