Define:Sic

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: sĭk, /sɪk/, Template:SAMPA
• Audio (US) 
• Rhymes: -ɪk
• Template:Homophones

Etymology 1

From Laitin

sīc

. Latin word meaning "thus," "so," "as such," or "in such a manner." It is used when writing quoted material to indicate that an incorrect or unusual spelling, phrase, punctuation or meaning in the quote has been reproduced verbatim from the original and is not a transcription error (i.e. it appeared thus in the original). It is normally placed within the quoted material, in square brackets and often italicized—[sic]. Alternatively it can appear after the quote in parentheses (round brackets)—(sic). Where the quoted material is a known error, and the correct word or phrase is known, it may be included, preceded by recte, Latin for "rightly"; this is common in palaeography.

Adverb

Sic (nae comparable)

1. thus; thus written

Usage notes

The word sic may be used in brackets to show that an uncommon or archaic usage is reported faithfully: for instance, quoting the U.S. Constitution:

The House of Representatives shall chuse [sic] their Speaker ...

It may also be used to highlight a perceived error, sometimes for the purpose of ridicule, as in this example from The Times:

Warehouse has been around for 30 years and has 263 stores, suggesting a large fan base. The chain sums up its appeal thus: "styley [sic], confident, sexy, glamorous, edgy, clean and individual, with it's [sic] finger on the fashion pulse."

On occasion, sic has been misidentified as an abbreviation for "said in context," "spelled in context," "said in copy," "spelling is correct," "spelled incorrectly" and other phrases. These are all backronyms from sic.

Related terms

• sic passim (Used to indicate that the preceding word, phrase, or term is used in the same manner (or form) throughout the remainder of a text.)
• sic transit gloria mundi (Fame is temporary.)
• sic semper tyrannis (Thus always to tyrants, shouted by John Wilkes Booth after assassinating Abraham Lincoln.)

Translations

thus, thus written

• German: dasselbe
• Greek: αυτολεξεί (aftolexeí)

• Russian: так (ru) (tak)
• Ukrainian: так (uk) (tak)

Verb

Sic (third-person singular simple present Sics, present participle siccing, simple past an past participle sicced)

1. To mark with a bracketed sic.

   E. Belfort Bax wrote "... the modern reviewer's taste is not really shocked by half the things he sics or otherwise castigates."

Etymology 2

Variant of

seek

.

Alternative forms

• sick

Verb

Sic (third-person singular simple present Sics, present participle siccing, simple past an past participle sicced)

1. Template:Transitive To incite an attack by, especially a dog or dogs.

   He sicced his dog on me!

2. Template:Transitive To set upon; to chase; to attack.

   Sic 'em, Mitzi.

Usage notes

• The sense of "set upon" is most commonly used as an imperative, in a command to an animal.

Translations

incite an attack by

• Finnish: usuttaa
• German: hetzen
• Icelandic: siga, etja

• Spanish: azuzar (es)
• Turkish: (üzerine) salmak, saldırtmak

set upon

Anagrams

• , CIS
• CSI
• ICS
• sci, sci.

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French

Etymology

From Laitin

sīc

.

Adverb

Sic

1. sic

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Latin

Adverb

sīc

1. thus, so, or just like that

Derived terms

• sic transit gloria mundi

Descendants

• French: si
• Italian: sì
• Portuguese: sim
• Romanian: şi
• Spanish: sí

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Scots

Alternative forms

• sich

Adjective

Sic (comparative mair Sic, superlative maist Sic)

1. such

Pronoun

Sic

1. such