worry someone sick
Appearance
English
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Verb
[edit]worry someone sick (third-person singular simple present worries someone sick, present participle worrying someone sick, simple past and past participle worried someone sick)
- (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.
- (informal, reflexive) To worry to a great degree.
- Synonym: tie oneself in knots
- to worry oneself sick
Derived terms
[edit]- worried sick (originally a passive past participle, now used adjectivally)
Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]reflexive
Further reading
[edit]- “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.