worry someone sick

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

worry someone sick (third-person singular simple present worries someone sick, present participle worrying someone sick, simple past and past participle worried someone sick)

1. (informal) To cause someone to worry to a great degree.
   • 1990, Susan Beth Pfeffer, Sybil at Sixteen‎^[1]:

     Frankly, it worries me sick to even think about it.

2. (informal, reflexive) To worry to a great degree.

   Synonym: tie oneself in knots

   to worry oneself sick

Derived terms

• worried sick (originally a passive past participle, now used adjectivally)

Related terms

• sick with worry

Translations

reflexive

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 操碎了心 (cāo suìle xīn)

• French: se faire de la bile (fr), se faire du mauvais sang (fr), se faire un sang d’encre (fr), se ronger les sangs, se faire du mouron (fr), se faire des cheveux blancs (fr)

Further reading

• “worry (oneself) sick”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “worried sick”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “worried sick” (US) / “worried sick” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.