Stricken means suddenly affected by something serious or devastating, usually something bad. When a ship is stricken by a storm, massive waves and winds batter it without warning. When a family is stricken with illness, disease strikes them hard and fast.

The word carries a sense of being hit or struck down by forces beyond your control. A community might be stricken by disaster after a tornado tears through town. Someone who just heard terrible news might have a stricken look on their face, appearing shocked and deeply troubled.

You'll often see stricken combined with other words: grief-stricken means overwhelmed by sadness, poverty-stricken means suffering from severe lack of money, panic-stricken means seized by sudden fear. In older books, you might read that someone was stricken from a list, meaning their name was removed or crossed out.

The word suggests both suddenness and seriousness. You wouldn't say someone was stricken by a minor inconvenience like a paper cut. The word fits moments when something significant hits hard and changes everything in an instant.