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
The features become sharper, and sometimes the whole body begins to emaciate, while the pulse quickens.
From Fruits of Philosophy A Treatise on the Population Question by Charles Knowlton
His frame was emaciate in the extreme from the prodigious toils which he had endured.
From Harper's New Monthly Magazine Vol. IV, No. 19, Dec 1851 by Various
Sickness diminished the ranks, and emaciate men, haggard and way-worn, tottered painfully along the rugged ways.
From Hernando Cortez Makers of History by John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot) Abbott
His fragile form was almost feminine in its proportions, but an eagle eye calmly reposed in his pallid and emaciate countenance.
From Josephine Makers of History 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
The remaining eight "appeared emaciated" and later succumbed to "poor health issues", the report states.
From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2026
Officers searched him and found two emaciated and potentially sedated orange-fronted parakeets — the victims of an alleged botched smuggling attempt — stuffed in his underwear, according to court documents.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 30, 2026
She was shrinking back into her emaciated body, shoulders slumped, wrists limp.
From "The Reader" by Traci Chee
All those terrible yellow toxins, wizening his knees, slackening his tendons, emaciating his calves.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 1, 2011
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
After an emaciating period he began once more to stouten.
From The Card, a Story of Adventure in the Five Towns by Arnold Bennett
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
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
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