Skip to main content
bulimic

bulimic

3 8.6
A person who has a serious problem with eating and then makes themselves throw up
  • noun
  • /bjuˈlɪmɪk/
  • Specialized
: bulímico
  • The bulimia story: If it were going anywhere, Kitty's attempts to make Marley (Melissa Benoist) bulimic were horrifying.

Examples

  • There were several suicides, a car accident, a bulimic whose stomach exploded...

  • And a bulimic.

  • When he couldn't hold it off, he gave in to it the way a bulimic gives in to food.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • So I'm gonna have to say that their cheer blew like a bulimic after Christmas dinner.

  • Unlike the classic bulimic, he did not pause to purge himself but kept on eating with undiminished appetite.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • My friend is a bulimic who is working hard to overcome her eating disorder.

  • It's important to support someone who identifies as a bulimic, as recovery can be challenging.

  • Many bulimic individuals struggle with the cycle of binge eating and purging.

Surface Forms

bulimic singular
bulimics plural

Morphology

bulimic = bulimia (opaque) = bulim + ic

The transformation from 'bulimia' to 'bulimic' is straightforward, but the root 'bulim' is not a standalone English word.

Etymology

The word bulimic comes from the Greek parts bous ('ox') and limos ('hunger') because it described a very strong, 'ox-like' appetite. So a bulimic as a noun is a person who often eats a lot at once and then tries to get rid of the food.