etiolate

[ ee-tee-uh-leyt ]

/ ˈi ti əˌleɪt /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR etiolate ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), e·ti·o·lat·ed, e·ti·o·lat·ing.

to cause (a plant) to whiten or grow pale by excluding light: to etiolate celery.

to cause to become weakened or sickly; drain of color or vigor.

verb (used without object), e·ti·o·lat·ed, e·ti·o·lat·ing.

(of plants) to whiten or grow pale through lack of light.

Nearby words

ethynyl group, ethynylation, eti, etic, etidronate disodium, etiolate, etiolation, etiologic, etiology, etiquette, etna

Origin of etiolate

1785–95; < French étioler to make pale, etiolate (plants), probably derivative, based on N French dial. forms, of standard French éteule, Old French estoble, estuble stubble; see -ate¹

Related forms

e·ti·o·la·tion, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for etiolated

His abstract and etiolated internationalism has been replaced by the warm humanity of writers like, say, David or Pernerstorfer.
The Open Secret of Ireland|T. M. Kettle
In America the sentiment of the etiolated, the brainless, the prudish, the hypocrite is the censor.
Ivory Apes and Peacocks|James Huneker
But no matter how etiolated and sickly the thought, it regains its colour and health when it breathes the literary air.
The Book of Khalid|Ameen Rihani
And he had a kind of sickness very repulsive to a sensitive girl, something cunning and etiolated and degenerate.
The Rainbow|D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence

The undergrowth was green, but in the etiolated way of plants which have little light, though that may have been my fancy.
The Sea and the Jungle|H. M. Tomlinson

British Dictionary definitions for etiolated

etiolate

/ (ˈiːtɪəʊˌleɪt) /

verb

botany to whiten (a green plant) through lack of sunlight

to become or cause to become pale and weak, as from malnutrition

Derived Forms

etiolation, noun

Word Origin for etiolate

C18: from French étioler to make pale, probably from Old French estuble straw, from Latin stipula

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