How to Use hypochondriac in a Sentence

hypochondriac

noun
  • My brother is a real hypochondriac. Every time he reads about some new disease, he thinks he has it.
  • Austen knew as well as anybody that, in the long run, hypochondriacs aren’t wrong.
    — Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 13 Mar. 2017
  • Jack Grazer did kind of like this fawning, fast-talking hypochondriac.
    — Baltimore Sun Staff, baltimoresun.com, 3 Sep. 2019
  • Unconscious anxieties bring out your inner hypochondriac as the moon and Pluto clash.
    — USA TODAY, 10 Sep. 2023
  • Sidney is a dashing antihero and Arthur a reserved hypochondriac.
    — Sarah Midkiff, refinery29.com, 13 Jan. 2020
  • Kimberly’s pregnant mother is a hypochondriac; her best friend, Seth, loves anagrams and plays the tuba; and her aunt is trying to persuade her to commit some white-collar crimes.
    — Diep Tran, New York Times, 26 Oct. 2022
  • Though prone to sniffles and accidents — a bit of a hypochondriac, his friends affectionately allowed — his work and travel schedule showed his amazing stamina, year after year.
    — Grant Wacker, Washington Post, 21 Feb. 2018
  • Her hypochondriac and pregnant mother, Alli Mauzey, is more invested in her recent carpel tunnel surgery than her daughter’s increasing demise.
    — Jeryl Brunner, Forbes, 23 Jan. 2023
  • An Airbus fuselage in mid-assembly, with white tarps strapped across its cockpit windows and nose, looks eerily like one of its would-be passengers, a hypochondriac hoping for a few hours of in-flight shut-eye.
    — Eren Orbey, New Yorker, 23 June 2026
  • Reviews were mixed at the time, but that deep-dive into the widening mental abyss of a hypochondriac playwright (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) has only grown in esteem over time.
    — Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 8 Sep. 2025
  • To any of you who are suffering with anything, go to a doctor, pay for a specialist; get your hormones tested, get allergy testing; keep on top of how your body is feeling and don't worry about sounding like a hypochondriac.
    — Evin Billington, Health.com, 14 Dec. 2017
  • Alina Alcantara gives hippo Gloria a pleasing mix of sass and motherly affection, Bryan Jager does his best nebbish routine as the hypochondriac giraffe.
    — Matthew J. Palm, OrlandoSentinel.com, 7 Mar. 2018
  • The young actor played the hypochondriac Detroit Red Wings fan after earning his first onscreen credit just three years prior in 1983's Bad Boys.
    — Entertainment Weekly, 4 Apr. 2026
  • Mae was a hoarder and a severe hypochondriac, who, despite Christian Science’s stricture against traditional medicine, took barbiturates daily for anxiety.
    — Rachel Syme, New Yorker, 29 Sep. 2025
  • Goosed along by Cliff Martinez’s ghostly electronic score, Soderbergh taps into our collective inner hypochondriac, making every character’s sniffle or rubbed eye bristle with potential danger.
    — Tim Grierson, Vulture, 7 July 2021
  • Instead of Williams’ crippled shut-in Laura fussing over her glass figurines in the absence of a husband or happy future, Durang’s version features Lawrence, a hypochondriac who prizes his collection of cocktail swizzle sticks.
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 Nov. 2021
  • People with traditionally hypochondriac tendencies usually have generalized anxiety about illnesses and symptoms, rather than about one particular disease.
    — Jamie Ducharme, Time, 27 Feb. 2020
  • It was written by Robert Hooke, then a 30-year-old hunchbacked, cantankerous, neurotic hypochondriac who was also a brilliant natural scientist, polymath and an original fellow of the society that published the book.
    — Paul Falkowski, Discover Magazine, 29 Apr. 2015
  • The film starred Anna Chlumsky, now 44, as Vada Sultenfuss, a quirky 11-year-old girl coming of age in the summer of 1972 while also grappling with being a hypochondriac and obsessed with death.
    — Angela Andaloro, PEOPLE, 1 Dec. 2025
  • When Kimberly and her family leave the New Jersey suburbs under dubious circumstances, Kimberly reevaluates her life while dealing with her hypochondriac mother, alcoholic father, scam-artist aunt, her own mortality and her first love.
    — Meredith G. White, AZCentral.com, 1 Oct. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hypochondriac.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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