The phrase "sickly green" has been employed by writers to evoke an eerie, unsettling atmosphere that blurs the line between decay in nature and deterioration in human health. In descriptions of weather and landscapes, authors use the hue to imbue skies, seas, and barren fields with an otherworldly pallor—suggesting a world that is both corrupt and lifeless, as seen when a sky takes on a sickly greenish hue [1] or when only patches of vegetation exhibit that murky tone [2, 3]. At the same time, the color marks moments of personal disquiet, with characters’ faces turning sickly green at the sight of overwhelming horror or deceit [4, 5, 6]. Even in depictions of inanimate objects, such as tarnished brass or faded buildings, the sickly green emerges as a reminder of neglect and contamination, lending each scene an atmosphere of grim unease [7, 8].
- Wind and rain When the sky has a sickly greenish hue.
— from Weather Warnings for Watchers by Anonymous
- No sign of vegetation was seen except here and there patches of a sickly green.
— from The Hurricane Hunters by Ivan Ray Tannehill
- The next mornin' the hull sea an' sky was a sickly green; the sun were a sort o' greenery-yaller; an' it were dead calm, with a big swell outside.
— from Harper's Round Table, June 9, 1896 by Various
- “It’s a lie—a forgery,” cried Richard, whose face now was of a sickly green.
— from The Parson O' Dumford by George Manville Fenn
- His eyes were hollow, and his face overspread with a horrible sickly greenish pallor, the hue of the last stage of fear.
— from Okewood of the Secret Service by Valentine Williams
- You escaped me three times, but——" Martin Thomas broke off short, and his face turned a sickly green.
— from The Young Bridge-Tender; or, Ralph Nelson's Upward Struggle by Edward Stratemeyer
- What brass there was, on the tiller-head and elsewhere, was tarnished with sickly green.
— from The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers
- It had a mansard roof and shutters of a sickly green, all closed; there was not a sign of life about, but smoke issued from one of the chimneys.
— from The Sturdy Oak
A composite Novel of American Politics by fourteen American authors