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Glite Dictionary
✊ Work protest 🤒 Mass absence
sick-out

sick-out

8.2
A group of workers who call in sick to protest and ask for change
  • noun
  • /sɪk aʊt/
  • Literature
translation icon : huelga de enfermos
  • And this is leading more people to stake sick outs where people are calling in sick as a way of protesting that they don't want a vaccine or they're quitting.

They had conducted a sick out because their buildings were not meeting code.

Examples

  • During the sick-out, many employees called in ill to demand better working conditions.

  • Teachers organized a sick-out to protest the lack of adequate resources in their classrooms.

  • They had conducted a sick out because their buildings were not meeting code.

    Harvard University

  • The recent sick-out by nurses aimed to highlight the understaffing in the hospital.

Synonyms

to strike
vssick-out
133 3.2

To stop work as a protest to get better pay

uses absenteeism claimed as illness rather than an open refusal to work
work stoppage
vssick-out
9 4.2

A time when workers stop working to protest about pay or conditions

is a particular tactic framed as sickness absence rather than general refusal
sickout
vssick-out
  • Literature
2 7.4

Many workers stay home as an organized protest to pressure their boss

has identical meaning but is the hyphenated or alternative spelling
job action
vssick-out
  • Specialized
1 5.7

Temporary work protest by workers to demand better pay or conditions

focuses specifically on reporting illness together rather than any tactic

Antonyms

work
∞ 1.0

Effort people use to do a job or task

How Disruptive

to strike
133 3.2
walkout
33 4.8
sick-out
  • Literature
8.2
absenteeism
5 6.7

Surface Forms

sick-out singular
sick-outs plural

Morphology

sick-out = sick (semi-transparent) = out + sick

The components 'sick' + 'out' are clear, but the sense of an organized collective protest (calling in sick as a tactic) is a pragmatic extension that may not be obvious to all learners. [Postprocessing: moved 'out' from base_words to prefix]

Etymology

The word sick-out comes from joining sick ('ill') and out, similar to a walkout where people stay away to protest. So a sick-out is when workers 'call in sick' together as a protest to demand change.