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:
Continuing to emaciate her body with austere penances, she devoted herself to the worship of the pitris and the gods in that solitary forest.
From The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 3 Books 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 by Kisari Mohan Ganguli
Many of these infants are of such low vitality, however, that in spite of the most careful feeding they emaciate and die.
From Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities—Head—Neck. Sixth Edition. by Alexander Miles
The body continues to emaciate, even with plenty of food and a good appetite, so that the quantity of milk is small.
From Special Report on Diseases of Cattle by United States. Bureau of Animal Industry
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
After a month of toil and suffering, ragged and emaciate he at midnight reached the settlement.
From The Adventures of the Chevalier De La Salle and His Companions, in Their Explorations of the Prairies, Forests, Lakes, and Rivers, of the New World, and Their Interviews with the Savage Tribes, Two Hundred Years Ago by John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot) Abbott
Leke described the moment where he showed his dad the black-and-white footage of emaciated children and said until then in his "43 years of existence" he had never heard his father's voice shake.
From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026
On Wednesday, the government had released photos of him hooked up to a ventilator and visibly emaciated, after acknowledging that his situation was "critical."
From Barron's ● May 31, 2026
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 ● Jan. 30, 2026
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 ● Jan. 27, 2026
Although she’s emaciated, I can see that she’s beautiful.
From "I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter" by Erika L. Sánchez
All those terrible yellow toxins, wizening his knees, slackening his tendons, emaciating his calves.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 1, 2011
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
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
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
After an emaciating period he began once more to stouten.
From The Card, a Story of Adventure in the Five Towns by Arnold Bennett
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