tabescent

American  

[tuh-bes-uhnt] / təˈbɛs ənt /

adjective

1. wasting away; becoming emaciated or consumed.

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tabescent British  

/ təˈbɛsənt /

adjective

1. progressively emaciating; wasting away

2. of, relating to, or having tabes

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Other Word Forms

• tabescence noun

Etymology

Origin of tabescent

1885–90; < Latin tābēscent- (stem of tābēscēns ), present participle of tābēscere to waste away. See tabes, -escent

Example Sentences

“At this weak, pale, tabescent moment in the history of American literature, we need a battalion, a brigade, of Zolas to head out into this wild, bizarre, unpredictable, Hog-stomping, Baroque country of ours and reclaim it as literary property,” he wrote.

From New York Times

“At this weak, pale, tabescent moment in the history of American literature,” Mr Wolfe wrote in one of his manifestos on behalf of literary realism, “we need a battalion, a brigade, of Zolas to head out into this wild, bizarre, unpredictable, hog-stomping, Baroque country of ours and reclaim it as literary property.”

From Economist

At this weak, pale, tabescent moment in the history of American literature, we need a battalion, a brigade, of Zolas to head out into this wild, bizarre, unpredictable, Hog-stomping Baroque country of ours and reclaim it as literary property.

From Time Magazine Archive