stricken
/straik/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- 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
- put out of action (by illness)
- (used in combination) affected by something overwhelming
- conscience-smitten
- awe-struck
- grievously affected especially by disease