as in complainer
a person who is often or always worried about being ill
My brother is a real hypochondriac. Every time he reads about some new disease, he thinks he has it.
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of hypochondriac
Dan Piepenbring, Harper's Magazine, 26 Feb. 2024
Interviews with two of Clemente’s sons as well as his late wife Vera capture a man who was loving, dedicated and just a bit eccentric — a fight almost breaks out between two talking heads over whether or not Clemente was a hypochondriac — in a purely human way.
—Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Mar. 2024
Eva Roytburg, Fortune, 7 June 2024
Read the full Virgo Daily Horoscope Libra (September 23 - October 22)
Releasing your inner hypochondriac?
—USA TODAY, 6 Feb. 2024
See All Example Sentences for hypochondriac
Noun
Crampton is a hypochondriac: her preferred term, though modern medicine is trying to drum it out of the discourse.
—Dan Piepenbring, Harper's Magazine, 26 Feb. 2024
Interviews with two of Clemente’s sons as well as his late wife Vera capture a man who was loving, dedicated and just a bit eccentric — a fight almost breaks out between two talking heads over whether or not Clemente was a hypochondriac — in a purely human way.
—Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Mar. 2024
Adjective
Easing the burden on our country’s emergency rooms could very well put us on the path to more effective, efficient patient care for everyone—including hypochondriacs.
—Eva Roytburg, Fortune, 7 June 2024
Read the full Virgo Daily Horoscope Libra (September 23 - October 22)
Releasing your inner hypochondriac?
—USA TODAY, 6 Feb. 2024
See All Example Sentences for hypochondriac
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hypochondriac
Adjective
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Her mother, Pattie (Alli Mauzey), is ludicrously hypochondriacal, as if atoning for the chromosomal accident that produced her quick-aging child.—
New York Times,
New York Times,
8 Dec. 2021
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Many women with myasthenia gravis, an autoimmune neuromuscular disease first named in 1877, were misdiagnosed as mentally unwell and dismissed as hypochondriacal well into the 20th century.—
Elinor Cleghorn,
WSJ,
12 June 2021
Adjective
-
People like my disabled adult son David, who needs 24/7 support.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
30 June 2025
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Josh is a disabled infantry combat veteran who brings fresh takes to genre series like sci-fi drama series Day 5 from El Rey Network and historical western Elkhorn on INSP.—
Katie Campione,
Deadline,
27 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Hypochondriac.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hypochondriac. Accessed 4 Jul. 2025.
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