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sick person

sick person

55 1.0
A person who is ill
  • noun
  • /sɪk ˈpɜrsən/
translation icon : enfermo
  • The nurse checked on each sick person to ensure they were comfortable.
  • a poor sick person
  • take a sick person

I have people writing me, people who are sick, people I go and visit and try to help.

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Examples

  • How do you heal the sick people who come to see you?

  • Who'll take care of all the sick people?

  • And we have too many sick people in this country.

  • I have people writing me, people who are sick, people I go and visit and try to help.

  • There are sick people living in this building.

  • A lot of sick people out there.

  • Life has to go on even where there are old people and sick people.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • And of course, the perspective of a physician is to see a sick person and to treat them.

  • Under these arches a great many sick people were lying.

  • The people who are hungry need bread, uneducated people need knowledge, and sick people need hospitals.

    Academic text (1992)

Synonyms

patient
vssick person
1.9

A person who is getting medical care from a doctor or hospital

describes being ill irrespective of receiving medical care
sufferer
vssick person
31 3.2

A person who has pain, illness, or hardship

focuses only on illness or disease, not wider hardship
diseased person
vssick person
1 3.2

A person who is sick and needs medical care

refers to illness in general, not only identified disease

Antonyms

695 1.0

In good body and mind condition without sickness or injury

How Recovered

recovered
3.1
convalescent
2 7.5
patient
1.9
sick person
55 1.0

Surface Forms

sick person singular
sick persons plural

Morphology

sick + person

The meaning 'a person who is suffering from an illness' is directly and transparently derived from the adjective 'sick' modifying the noun 'person'; the composition follows standard noun phrase rules in English. This is a basic, cross-linguistically common pattern that a B1 learner who knows both words will readily understand.

Etymology

Sick person is a simple compound made by putting sick before person to name someone who is not well. Imagine a person in bed or at the doctor's, and that clear picture shows why it means 'a person who is suffering from an illness'.