etiolation

American  

[ee-tee-uh-lay-shuhn] / ˌi ti əˈleɪ ʃən /

noun

• etiolations
  plural

1. the process or result of becoming weak or drained of vigor; enfeeblement.

2. Horticulture. the process or result of etiolating a plant.

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etiolation Scientific  

/ ē′tē-ə-lā′shən /

1. A pathological condition of plants that grow in places that provide insufficient light, as under stones. It is characterized by elongated stems and pale color due to lack of chlorophyll.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• de-etiolation
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• etiolations
  plural

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

etiolation etiolations

Perhaps he overlooked the packets’ stern warnings about overcrowding and etiolation and damping off, their instructions to carefully sprinkle pre-wetted soil extremely sparsely with, say, five seeds at a time.

From The New Yorker ● Apr. 23, 2019

Attention was drawn to the fact that by virtue of the laws which Darwin himself had discovered isolation leads to etiolation.

From Darwin and Modern Science by A. C. (Albert Charles) Seward

The dullness of the scholastic atmosphere the grey, intolerant mediocrity that is the natural or assumed quality of every upper-class schoolmaster, is the true cause of the spiritual etiolation of "Kappa's" young friend.

From An Englishman Looks at the World by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

Its withdrawal does not so immediately destroy the plant, being attended with the etiolation of the parts that are usually colored, but a sudden re-exposure to the sun's rays will now destroy the plant.

From American Pomology Apples by J. A. Warder

The seeds having been sown too thickly, the bases of the haulms, owing to the etiolation and consequent lack of carbohydrates, suffer from want of stiffening tissues, and the top-heavy plants fall over.

From Disease in Plants by H. Marshall Ward

Pound’s visionary role in leading poetry in English into the modern, after the etiolations of the late 19th century, seems incontestable.

From New York Times ● Jan. 9, 2018