Synonyms

emaciate

American

[ih-mey-shee-eyt] / ɪˈmeɪ ʃiˌeɪt /

verb (used with object)

emaciated, emaciating

to make abnormally lean or thin by a gradual wasting away of flesh.

emaciate British

/ ɪˈmeɪsɪˌeɪt /

verb

(usually tr) to become or cause to become abnormally thin

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

emaciation noun

Etymology

Origin of emaciate

1640–50; < Latin ēmaciātus, wasted away, equivalent to ē- e- ¹ + maciātus, past participle of maciāre to produce leanness ( maci ( ēs ) leanness + -ātus -ate ¹ )

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The image was of two emaciated, impoverished South Asian children.

From BBC

Officers searched him and found two emaciated and potentially sedated orange-fronted parakeets — the victims of an alleged botched smuggling attempt — stuffed in his underwear, according to court documents.

From Los Angeles Times

But the look on her face when she saw me, my emaciated frame, the chemical burn under my clavicle, sour smell I couldn’t mask, told me otherwise.

From Los Angeles Times

An emaciated and apparently blind man stands in the snow at the Nazi concentration camp of Flossenbuerg: the image seems real at first but is part of a wave of AI-generated content about the Holocaust.

From Barron's

“Many of the surviving horses were visibly emaciated and in poor health and would not have survived without intervention,” according to the release.

From Los Angeles Times

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023