Meaning & use
pale and sickly looking
Last updated
Meaning
adjectivebefore a noun
Having an unhealthy pale color, as if ill or weak.
Grammar: Used before a noun ('a pale and sickly looking child'); after a linking verb, say 'looked pale and sickly.'
Patterns
- be pale and sickly looking
- a pale and sickly looking someone
The doctor was worried about the pale and sickly looking boy.
After the long winter, the plants were pale and sickly looking.
He came home pale and sickly looking after days without sleep.
Common combinations
- look pale and sickly
- You look pale and sickly today — are you all right?
- a pale and sickly complexion
- The illness left her with a pale and sickly complexion.
- grow pale and sickly
- Without sunlight, the seedlings grow pale and sickly.
- pale and sickly looking skin
- The cream did nothing for his pale and sickly looking skin.
Synonyms and how they differ
- wan
- Wan means pale in a tired or ill way and is more literary; it fits written descriptions better than everyday speech.
- sallow
- Sallow describes a yellowish, unhealthy pale color, so it is more specific than this phrase.
- unwell-looking
- This focuses on appearing ill rather than on the color of the skin.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: pale and sickly looking or pale and sickly?
pale and sickly looking vs pale and sickly
Without 'looking', the phrase simply describes someone who is pale and often ill; adding 'looking' stresses how they appear to others.
Practice
Choose the sentence that uses the phrase correctly.
Choose one answer.
The phrase works as an adjective before a noun, as in 'the pale and sickly looking man'. The other options use it in positions where an adjective phrase does not fit grammatically.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “pale and sickly looking”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.