etiolation

American  

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

noun

plural

etiolations

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

• de-etiolation noun

Example Sentences

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

Sunlight, moreover, has not only this action upon the animal kingdom, but also upon the vegetable world as well Plants, like celery, which are subjected to blanching, become whitened under the process of etiolation.

From The Art of Living in Australia ; together with three hundred Australian cookery recipes and accessory kitchen information by Mrs. H. Wicken by Muskett, Philip E.

Achromatism -- N. achromatism†; decoloration†, discoloration; pallor, pallidness, pallidity†; paleness &c. adj.; etiolation; neutral tint, monochrome, black and white.

From Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases by Roget, Peter Mark

By the fierce battle under every blade, By the etiolation of the shade, By drouth and thirst and things undone half made, Oh, hear!

From A Cluster of Grapes A Book of Twentieth Century Poetry by Various

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 Ward, H. Marshall