Sic
Contents
English
Adverb
Sic (not comparable)
- thus; thus written
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."[1]
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.[2] 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.)
Verb
Sic (third-person singular simple present Sics, present participle siccing, simple past and past participle sicced)
- To mark with a bracketed sic.[3]
Verb
Sic (third-person singular simple present Sics, present participle siccing, simple past and past participle sicced)
- (transitive) To incite an attack by, especially a dog or dogs.
- He sicced his dog on me!
- (transitive) To set upon; to chase; to attack.
- Sic 'em, Mitzi.
Notes
- The sense of "set upon" is most commonly used as an imperative, in a command to an animal.
Thesaurus
abet, accurately, agitate, aid, catalyze, correctly, countenance, egg on, exhort, faultlessly, favor, flawlessly, goad, inspirit, instigate, just right, just so, perfectly, prick, prod, prompt, propel, properly, rightly, so, spur, straight
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Latin sīc (“thus, so”).
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).[5] 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.
Etymology 2
Variant of seek.
Alternative forms
Translations
Adverb
Verb
References
- ↑ Ashworth, Anne, "Chain reaction: Warehouse", The Times, 2006-06-21. Retrieved on 2007-01-06.
- ↑ e.g. "Abbreviations.com." URL accessed on 2010-01-27., "Thefreedictionary.com." URL accessed on 2010-01-27.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "sic, adv. (and n.)" Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition 1989. Oxford University Press.
- ↑ E. Belfort Bax. On Some Forms of Modern Cant. Commonweal: 7 May 1887. Marxists’ Internet Archive: 14 Jan. 2006
- ↑ Wilson, Kenneth G. (1993). "sic (adv.)". The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. Columbia University Press. http://cup.columbia.edu/bookpreview/978-0-231-06989-2/. Retrieved 2009-11-03. The particular entry is available in the online preview, via search.
Anagrams
French
Adverb
Sic
Etymology
From Latin sīc (“thus, so”).
Latin
Adverb
sīc
- thus, so, or just like that
Derived terms
Descendants
Scots
Adjective
Sic (comparative mair Sic, superlative maist Sic)
Pronoun
Sic
