stricken

American  

[strik-uhn] / ˈstrɪk ən /

verb

1. a past participle of strike.

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adjective

1. hit or wounded by a weapon, missile, or the like.

2. beset or afflicted, as with disease, trouble, or sorrow.

   stricken areas; a stricken family.

3. deeply affected, as with grief, fear, or other emotions.

4. characterized by or showing the effects of affliction, trouble, misfortune, a mental blow, etc..

   stricken features.

stricken British  

/ ˈstrɪkən /

adjective

1. laid low, as by disease or sickness

2. deeply affected, as by grief, love, etc

3. archaic wounded or injured

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Other Word Forms

• strickenly adverb
• unstricken adjective

Etymology

Origin of stricken

First recorded in 1530–40

Explanation

Stricken means "overwhelmed by emotion." When you saw the pretty new girl at school smiling at you, you were so stricken you walked right into a wall. Stricken means "affected," whether it's in a good way — being so stricken by spring fever that you can't stop singing and goofing around — or bad, like being stricken by a real fever and a sore throat and the chills and. . . you get the idea. You can also be stricken by fear, like a family so stricken by fear of bedbugs that they cancelled their hotel reservation and just slept in their car.

Example Sentences

The item, which goes under the hammer in Penshurst later this month, was awarded to the engineer of a steamship responsible for saving more than 700 of the stricken ocean liner's passengers in April 1912.

From BBC • Apr. 14, 2026

As the astronauts broke the distance record set by the stricken Apollo 13 crew in 1970, Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen called down to Mission Control in Houston.

From BBC • Apr. 7, 2026

Representatives of nearly 40 organizations in cities across the country have reached out to him for advice on how similar programs might work in their stricken neighborhoods.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 16, 2026

The stricken vessel was later found on a sandbank.

From Barron's • Jan. 2, 2026

The regiment was living at that time in a school building furnished with folding wooden beds, and when the surviving aircrews returned to their bunks they were stricken to see eight beds still folded up.

From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein

Related Words

• harmed