adjective
stricken
STRIK-un/ˈstrɪkən/
Severely affected by suffering or strong emotion.
The stricken woman faces her ruined home with a friend's support.
Etymology
Stricken is an older past participle of strike, first used adjectivally for a deer wounded in a hunt. A physical blow became an image for being overwhelmed or brought down by illness, grief, or disaster.
In context
Of those who were stricken none recovered, and the illness was ever the same—gross boils, raving, and the black blotches
More examples
- The stricken town struggles to recover after the flood.
- He is stricken with guilt over his cruel remark.
- Doctors rush to help a passenger stricken by a sudden illness.
Forms
stricken
Similar words
- afflicted
- Emphasizes suffering from an illness or persistent problem.
- distressed
- Describes emotional upset without necessarily suggesting such overwhelming impact.
- devastated
- Suggests near-total emotional collapse or extensive physical destruction.