neurasthenic
Americanadjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of neurasthenic
First recorded in 1875–80; neurasthen(ia) + -ic
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.
With a neurasthenic mother now in charge, the Nichols family hobbled forward, neither well-to-do nor destitute.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 26, 2021
The narrator appears to be only a step from a nervous breakdown, but the neurasthenic sensitivity is gestural, unearned, a bit melodramatic.
From The New Yorker ● May 29, 2017
In South Carolina, living in some kind of engineered community, she happily cares for a family with two spoiled children and a neurasthenic but kind mother.
From Slate ● Aug. 10, 2016
“Red Band Society” gathers some of the most familiar archetypes of high school — the mean-girl cheerleader; the jock; the neurasthenic, usually goth, poet — and dashes their boat against the shoals of fatal illness.
From New York Times ● Sep. 16, 2014
Had Izzy been a different kind of child, this might have led her to be cautious, or neurasthenic, or paranoid.
From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng
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