Stricken
adj, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 past participle of strike form-of, participle, past
"Nothing could be more business-like than the construction of the stout dams, and nothing more gently rural than the limpid lakes, with the grand old forest trees marshalled round their margins like a veteran army that had marched down to drink, only to be stricken motionless at the water’s edge."
- 1 Struck by something.
"The town was stricken by a devastating earthquake that left many buildings in ruins."
- 2 Disabled or incapacitated by something.
"Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear."
- 3 Disabled or incapacitated by something.; Having its name removed from a country's naval register, e.g. the United States Naval Vessel Register.
- 1 (used in combination) affected by something overwhelming wordnet
- 2 grievously affected especially by disease wordnet
- 3 put out of action (by illness) wordnet
Example
More examples"They were horror stricken at the news."
Etymology
From Middle English striken, ystriken, from Old English stricen, ġestricen, from Proto-West Germanic *strikan, from Proto-Germanic *strikanaz, past participle of Proto-Germanic *strīkaną (“to strike”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian strieken, Dutch gestreken, German Low German streken, German gestrichen.
Related phrases
More for "stricken"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.