etiolate

[ ee-tee-uh-leyt ]

verb (used with object)

, e·ti·o·lat·ed, e·ti·o·lat·ing.

1. to cause (a plant) to whiten or grow pale by excluding light:

   to etiolate celery.

2. to cause to become weakened or sickly; drain of color or vigor.

verb (used without object)

, e·ti·o·lat·ed, e·ti·o·lat·ing.

1. (of plants) to whiten or grow pale through lack of light.

etiolate

/ ˈiːtɪəʊˌleɪt /

verb

1. botany to whiten (a green plant) through lack of sunlight
2. to become or cause to become pale and weak, as from malnutrition

Derived Forms

• ˌetioˈlation, noun

Other Words From

• eti·o·lation noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of etiolate¹

First recorded in 1785–95; < French étioler “to make pale, etiolate (plants),” probably derivative of a Norman French dialect form of standard French éteule, Old French estoble, estuble stubble; -ate ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of etiolate¹

C18: from French étioler to make pale, probably from Old French estuble straw, from Latin stipula

Example Sentences

Succulent varieties that require more direct light will become etiolated and lose color without it.

From Seattle Times

To me, though, “Romance in Marseille” reflects the 1930s discovery and celebration of outcasts, rogues and criminals, all of them regarded as more vital and passionate than the upright citizens of etiolated bourgeois society.

From Washington Post

Poking up above the Manhattan skyline like etiolated beanpoles, they seem to defy the laws of both gravity and commercial sense.

From The Guardian

You take in your late granny’s hideous yucca plant, a mostly etiolated stump with a couple of yellow ribbon-like leaves.

From The New Yorker

Outdoorsmen were vigorous, muscular Christians — nothing like those studious urban types, as Ralph Waldo Emerson noted, “with their pale, sickly etiolated indoor thoughts!”

From New York Times