anemic

American  

[uh-nee-mik] / əˈni mɪk /

Or anaemic

adjective

1. Pathology. affected with anemia; having a deficiency of the hemoglobin, often accompanied by a reduced number of red blood cells.

2. lacking power, vigor, vitality, or colorfulness; listless; weak.

   an anemic effort;

   anemic tones.

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anemic British  

/ əˈniːmɪk /

adjective

1. the usual US spelling of anaemic

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Other Word Forms

• anemically adverb
• nonanemic adjective
• pseudoanemic adjective
• unanemic adjective

Etymology

Origin of anemic

First recorded in 1830–40; anem(ia) + -ic

Example Sentences

Network audiences are also skipping “The Faithful,” but its sluggishness isn’t to blame for the premiere’s anemic ratings.

From Salon

Even weak economic data, such as the past year’s anemic job growth, was often viewed as a “glass half full” reason to keep buying equities.

From The Wall Street Journal

I kept my face neutral and gave Eleanor an anemic smile until she turned back to Anna May.

From Literature

Demand from other agencies to use Grok has been anemic, people familiar with the matter said, except in a few cases where people wanted to use it to mimic a bad actor for defensive testing.

From The Wall Street Journal

The signs looked performative and anemic and the visual impact was poor.

From Salon

Related Words

• feeble
• frail
• sickly