to emaciate
- verb
- /ɪˈmeɪʃiˌeɪt/
- The cat, having not been fed for more than a week, was emaciated and nearly mad with hunger.
- emaciated body
- emaciated look
- appears emaciated
Examples
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But, like shipwrecked sailors, nearly all of them appeared emaciated, and I could not imagine the reason.
Academic text (2009) -
The POW sits in a wheelchair at Nixon's elbow, emaciated, the blue ribbon of the Congressional Medal of Honor around his neck.
Fiction book (1995) -
The patients are emaciated, their faces and bodies covered with virulent sores.
Fiction book (1992) -
When the dust clears, we see the two white mice standing there on the side of the road, shivering and emaciated.
Fiction book (2001) -
And he was leaner, the weight that grew on him through the years trimmed away, his skin sallow, folded hands almost emaciated, his burial suit a dark blue flannel.
Fiction book (1997) -
After several weeks in the hospital, he became so emaciated that his family hardly recognized him.
-
The documentary showed the emaciated animals in the shelter, emphasizing the importance of adoption and care.
-
Children in the famine-stricken area were left emaciated and in desperate need of food and medical attention.
Synonyms
To become thin and weak because of illness or a lack of food
To make a person or animal very thin and weak by not eating enough
Antonyms
To make an animal gain weight and a sauce taste richer by giving more or richer food
How Thin
Surface Forms
Morphology
emaciate = emaciation (semi-transparent) = emaci + ate
The verb is formed with the productive verb-making suffix '-ate', but the root 'emaci-' is not a standalone English word, so the meaning 'make thin' is somewhat predictable only if learners know related forms like 'emaciated' or 'emaciation'.
Etymology
The word emaciate comes from Latin parts e- 'out' and macies 'thinness'. So to emaciate someone is to make them very thin or weak, as if their strength has been taken out. You can also see the same root in meager, which means 'small' or 'not enough', and that helps explain the idea of lack and thinness.