Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Deeply affected, especially by something harmful or distressing: Describes a person, group, or place that is suffering severely from a negative condition, such as disease, grief, fear, or misfortune.
   • Disabled or incapacitated: Often used to describe someone who is unable to function normally due to a sudden affliction, like an illness or shock.
   • (In combination) Overwhelmed by a specified feeling or condition: Used with another word to form a compound adjective describing a specific state of being affected (e.g., grief-stricken, panic-stricken).

Usage

• Stricken is primarily used as an adjective following a linking verb (like , , ) or before a noun it modifies.
• It often carries a formal or literary tone and conveys a sense of serious, often sudden, suffering.
• Common structures: ; .

Examples

• Adjective:
  • The region was stricken by a severe drought.
  • She had a stricken look on her face when she heard the bad news.
  • He was stricken with guilt after realizing his mistake.
  • Rescue teams rushed to the disaster-stricken city.

Advanced Usage

• "Stricken field": A literary term for a battlefield.
  • The poem describes the silence of the stricken field after the battle.
• "Stricken from the record": (Legal/Formal) Officially removed or deleted from an official document or transcript.
  • The judge ordered the comment to be stricken from the record.

Variants and Related Words

• Strike (verb): The base verb from which "stricken" is derived as a past participle. Meanings include to hit, to occur suddenly, to stop work in protest, or to discover.
• Stricken (archaic past participle of 'strike'): In older or literary English, it can be used as the past participle of "strike" in some senses (e.g., ).
• Compound Adjectives:
  • Grief-stricken: Overwhelmed with sadness.
  • Poverty-stricken: Extremely poor.
  • Terror-stricken / Panic-stricken: Filled with terror or panic.
  • Conscience-stricken: Feeling strong guilt.

Synonyms

• Afflicted: Suffering from a disease or trouble.
• Devastated: Severely shocked or distressed.
• Smitten: (Archaic or literary) Affected by something overwhelming, often love or disease.
• Laid low: Made ill or weak.

Related Phrases

• To be stricken with remorse: To be filled with deep regret.
  • He was stricken with remorse for his actions.
• A stricken conscience: A conscience that is troubled by guilt.
  • Her stricken conscience would not let her sleep.

Adjective

1. put out of action (by illness)
2. (used in combination) affected by something overwhelming
   • conscience-smitten
   • awe-struck
3. grievously affected especially by disease