emaciate
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
- emaciation noun
Etymology
Origin of emaciate
1640–50; < Latin ēmaciātus, wasted away, equivalent to ē- e- 1 + maciātus, past participle of maciāre to produce leanness ( maci ( ēs ) leanness + -ātus -ate 1 )
Explanation
To emaciate is to make someone extremely thin or very weak. A serious illness can often emaciate a person, leaving them gaunt and frail. The verb emaciate is much less common than its related adjective, emaciated. Both stem from the Latin emaciare, "make lean, cause to waste away." Whenever a person has become malnourished in a way that's evident just from looking at them, you can use this word: "The ravages of the Irish potato famine emaciated the starving people all across the country, eventually causing a million deaths."
Vocabulary lists containing emaciate
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Mrs. Rowlandson had two children, a son and a daughter, by her side, and another daughter about six years of age, sick and emaciate, in her arms.
From King Philip Makers of History by Abbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot)
Many of these infants are of such low vitality, however, that in spite of the most careful feeding they emaciate and die.
From Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities—Head—Neck. Sixth Edition. by Miles, Alexander
John placed his hand,90 Pale and emaciate, on his breast, and said: Thy words might raise from earth the heaviest heart.
From The Poetical Works of William Lisle Bowles Vol. 2 by Gilfillan, George
Continuing to emaciate her body with austere penances, she devoted herself to the worship of the pitris and the gods in that solitary forest.
From The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 3 Books 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 by Ganguli, Kisari Mohan
His step became feeble, his form emaciate, his countenance haggard.
From Ferdinand De Soto, The Discoverer of the Mississippi American Pioneers and Patriots by Abbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
