Miserable wife was sick (8)

I believe the answer is:

wretched

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'miserable' is the definition.
(synonyms)

'wife was sick' is the wordplay.
'wife' becomes 'w'.
'was sick' becomes 'retched' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'w'+'retched'='WRETCHED'

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(Other definitions for wretched that I've seen before include "Pitiful" , "Poor" , "Abject" , "Hapless" , "misery" .)

I've seen this clue in The Sun.

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