EN

Synonyms for ailing

  • adjective

Most common

sick ill unwell sickly

All synonyms

Adjective

1. Ill — sickly; sick; ill; unwell

ill, unwell, sick, sickly, indisposed, infirm, unhealthy, diseased, feeble, bad, poorly, under the weather, out of sorts, seedy, peaked, unsound, invalid

Other

ropey

Antonyms

well, normal

All antonyms of ailing →

Definitions

  1. adj. 1

    Sickly; sick; ill; unwell.

    She cared for her ailing brother day in, day out.

Example sentences

  • sick The doctor sat up all night with the sick old man.
  • ill They called in a doctor because the child was ill.
  • unwell I pretended to be unwell in order to stay at home.
  • sickly Since childhood, Boldi has been a very sickly boy.

Popularity over time

Word1850 → 2019Trend
ailingrising
sickrising
illsteady
unwellrising
sicklyrising

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

3 letters
bad1, ill1
4 letters
sick1
5 letters
seedy2, ropey
6 letters
poorly2, peaked1, feeble2, unwell2, sickly2, infirm2
7 letters
invalid3, unsound2
8 letters
diseased2
9 letters
unhealthy3
10 letters
indisposed

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (seedy2 = 2 syllables).