Extremely anxious, as in Her parents were worried sick when she didn't come home all night, or We've been worried to death about the drop in the stock market. These somewhat hyperbolic phrases (one could conceivably feel ill from worrying but would hardly die from it) date from the second half of the 1800s.

How do you use worried sick in a sentence?

Cook will be worried sick and Mrs Benson might very well have noticed my absence by now and I'll be for it when I get back. He is worried sick about her safety, since the disappearance of the Shadow Melters began. Well, we know that many of you are worried sick about the pets that you were forced to leave behind.

What does it mean to be worried sick?

phrase. If you say that you are worried sick, you are emphasizing that you are extremely worried. [informal, emphasis] He was worried sick about what our mothers would say.