Sickening

/ˈsɪkənɪŋ/

Meaning & Definition

verb

to cause someone to feel nauseous or disgusted.

The thought of eating spoiled food sickened him.

adjective

causing a feeling of disgust or nausea.

The sickening smell of rotting food made her stomach churn.

extremely unpleasant or disturbing.

The sickening violence in the movie left her feeling unsettled.

overwhelmingly negative or distressing.

He received sickening news about the disaster that struck his hometown.

From sick + -ening, where sick originally means 'to be affected by a physical condition'.

sickeningly sweet:

Describing something overly sweet to the point of becoming unpleasant.

sickening feeling:

A feeling of nausea or strong discomfort.

Overwhelmingly bad or intense

That was a sickening level of betrayal.

Unbelievably good (used sarcastically)

Wow, that sickening party really blew my mind.