English

Noun

sicko ‎(plural sickos or sickoes)

1. (Australia, slang) A day taken off work due to (possibly exaggerated or supposed) illness.
2. (derogatory, slang) A person with unpleasant tastes, views or habits.
   • 1986 June 9, David Denby, Movies: Poison, New York, page 130,

     But in fact, the murders have been committed by an army of sickos, a phalanx of wild-eyed droolers led by a monster goon with a concrete jaw and a Neanderthal brow.

   • 1997, Shannon Bell, Chapter 5: On ne peut pas voir l′image [The image cannot be seen], Brenda Cossman, Shannon Bell, Lise Gotell, Becki L. Ross, Bad Attitude/s on Trial: Pornography, Feminism, and the Butler Decision, page 231,

     We can′t say that it is our responses of horror and revulsion that are upsetting to the youth; therefore, those attracted to them are deviants, sickos, who should be cured/punished like the homosexuals of the forties and fifties.

   • 2009, Stuart E. Weisberg, Barney Frank: The Story of America′s Only Left-Handed, Gay, Jewish Congressman, page 372,

     The conservative Boston Herald, which had earlier described the revelations about Barney′s two-year relationship with a male prostitute as “one of the most tawdry episodes in modern Massachusetts politics” and had run a story by the columnist Howie Carr calling Frank “a sicko who happens to be a pol,” urged him to resign his house seat.

3. (US, Canada, slang) A mentally ill person.

Usage notes

The plural form sickoes is somewhat rare.

Synonyms

• (day taken off work due to illness): sick day, sickie (slang)
• (person with unpleasant tastes, views or habits): weirdo

Translations