emaciation

American  

[ih-mey-shee-ey-shuhn, -see-] / ɪˌmeɪ ʃiˈeɪ ʃən, -si- /

noun

1. abnormal thinness caused by lack of nutrition or by disease.

2. the process of emaciating.

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Etymology

Origin of emaciation

1655–65; < Latin ēmaciāt ( us ) ( see emaciate) + -ion

Explanation

Emaciation is extreme, dangerous thinness. People suffering from emaciation have usually experienced malnutrition because of illness or poverty. If someone goes on a hunger strike for long enough, it will result in emaciation, leaving them looking gaunt and feeling very weak. True emaciation means that there is very little fat left in the person's body, making their bones prominent. This noun comes from the Latin emaciare, "make lean, waste away," and its root, macer, "thin."

Example Sentences

Emaciation, wrinkling of the skin, dryness and falling out of the hair, decay of the teeth, are not as Page 55 a rule part of the picture of nervous dyspepsia.

From The Nervous Child by Cameron, Hector Charles

Emaciation is also a symptom of advanced disease.

From The Four Epochs of Woman's Life; a study in hygiene by Galbraith, Anna M. (Anna Mary)

Emaciation is obtained readily enough in either way, and demands only the constant exercise of will power on the part of the patient; but unhappily, severe regimen cannot always be prescribed.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 821, September 26, 1891 by Various

Emaciation Diets.—Those containing a high percentage of fat-forming foods, such as milk, cream, eggs, cereals, potatoes, etc., olive oil.

From Dietetics for Nurses by Proudfit, Fairfax T.

Emaciation is often extreme in cases in which death has taken place after the third week, especially if they have been attended by much diarrhoea and fever.

From A System of Practical Medicine by American Authors, Vol. I Volume 1: Pathology and General Diseases by Various