neurasthenic

American  

[noor-uhs-then-ik, nyoor-] / ˌnʊər əsˈθɛn ɪk, ˌnyʊər- /

adjective

1. relating to, having, or experiencing neurasthenia.

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noun

1. a person with neurasthenia.

Other Word Forms

• neurasthenically adverb

Etymology

Origin of neurasthenic

First recorded in 1875–80; neurasthen(ia) + -ic

Example Sentences

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

With its sallow-faced subject reclining among monstrous sunflowers and African sculptures, it’s a radically neurasthenic, underground image of an odalisque.

From New York Times • Nov. 20, 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