saccharine vs sickly

saccharine

adj
  • Excessively sweet in action or disposition, especially if romantic or sentimental to the point of ridiculousness; sickly sweet, syrupy. 

  • Resembling granulated sugar; saccharoid. 

  • Of or relating to saccharin (“a white, crystalline powder, C₇H₅NO₃S, used as an artificial sweetener in food products”). 

noun
  • Sentimentalism. 

sickly

adj
  • Overly sweet. 

  • Associated with poor moral or mental well-being. 

  • Appearing ill, infirm or unhealthy; giving the appearance of illness. 

  • Characterized by poor or unhealthy growth. 

  • Not in good health; (somewhat) sick. 

  • Tending to produce nausea. 

  • Lacking intensity or vigour. 

  • Frequently ill or in poor health. 

  • Shedding a relatively small amount of light; (of light) not very bright. 

verb
  • To become sickly. 

adv
  • In a sick manner; in a way that reflects or causes sickness. 

How often have the words saccharine and sickly occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )