emaciate
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
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 )
Explanation
To emaciate is to make someone extremely thin or very weak. A serious illness can often emaciate a person, leaving them gaunt and frail. The verb emaciate is much less common than its related adjective, emaciated. Both stem from the Latin emaciare, "make lean, cause to waste away." Whenever a person has become malnourished in a way that's evident just from looking at them, you can use this word: "The ravages of the Irish potato famine emaciated the starving people all across the country, eventually causing a million deaths."
Vocabulary lists containing emaciate
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.
See Examples For:
Mrs. Rowlandson had two children, a son and a daughter, by her side, and another daughter about six years of age, sick and emaciate, in her arms.
From King Philip Makers of History by John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot) Abbott
His step became feeble, his form emaciate, his countenance haggard.
From Ferdinand De Soto, The Discoverer of the Mississippi American Pioneers and Patriots by John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot) Abbott
I cherished her reproach like physic-wine, For I saw in that emaciate shape of bitterness and bleakness A nobler soul than mine.
From Time's Laughingstocks and Other Verses by Thomas Hardy
But such a march as this, of woe-begone, emaciate, skeleton bands, is not to be counted as among war's pomps and glories.
From David Crockett His Life and Adventures by John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot) Abbott
And men and dog alike seemed direly thin and emaciate.
From Martin Conisby's Vengeance by Jeffery Farnol
The United States had called for Rivera's release after the government published photos of the visibly emaciated detainee hooked up to a ventilator.
From Barron's ● Jun. 8, 2026
Foot-and-mouth causes fever and blisters near the hoof and in the mouth that prevent animals from feeding, as seen in the emaciated survivors.
From Barron's ● Mar. 13, 2026
The image was of two emaciated, impoverished South Asian children.
From BBC ● Feb. 2, 2026
“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 ● Jan. 22, 2026
His soft body is emaciated, making him wince when Geak tries to crawl onto his lap.
From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung
All those terrible yellow toxins, wizening his knees, slackening his tendons, emaciating his calves.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 1, 2011
A lipoma, or fatty tumor, in the subcutaneous tissue, may go on increasing to huge bulk while the body is steadily emaciating.
From Special Report on Diseases of Cattle by United States. Bureau of Animal Industry
That their plunge might stimulate Methuen to burn his boots and brave the turgid waters of the Modder, was the fervent wish of Kimberley at the end of fourteen weeks of irksome, emaciating duress.
From The Siege of Kimberley by T. Phelan
The agitators proclaim that their number in Parliament has diminished, and that they have lost cities and counties, because the constituency has decreased under the "emaciating influence of the registration law."
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 56, Number 350, December 1844 by Various
After an emaciating period he began once more to stouten.
From The Card, a Story of Adventure in the Five Towns by Arnold Bennett
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
