sitophobia

[sahy-tuh-foh-bee-uh]

noun

1. an extreme aversion to eating or to food: People who suffer from sitophobia are constantly sniffing perishables in their refrigerator or checking the expiration dates on their groceries.

   It's not that I didn't have an appetite during chemo, but knowing that eating anything would end in vomiting led to sitophobia.

   People who suffer from sitophobia are constantly sniffing perishables in their refrigerator or checking the expiration dates on their groceries.

Other Word Forms

• sitophobic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of sitophobia¹

First recorded in 1880–85; sito- + -phobia

Example Sentences

Sitophobia, sī-tō-fō′bi-a, n. morbid aversion to food.

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Sitophobia.—Many people read much of the possibilities of evil in overeating, and they conclude that a limitation of diet would be better for them.

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After a time some of these people of nervous constitution acquire an actual dread of over-eating and develop what has been called sitophobia, or dread of food.

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