emaciated 1 of 2

adjective

i-ˈmā-shē-ˌā-təd How to pronounce emaciated (audio)
Definition of emaciatednext
as in gaunt
suffering extreme weight loss as a result of hunger or disease the emaciated bodies of the survivors of the concentration camps

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

emaciated

2 of 2

verb

past tense of emaciate
as in faded
to lose bodily strength or vigor without adequate medical supplies, doctors could only look on helplessly as cholera victims continued to emaciate

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of emaciated
Adjective
Bernice and Gerald Byrd are set to be sentenced in June after their child, Zona Byrd, was found emaciated and malnourished in her bed. — Jt Moodee Lockman, CBS News, 30 Mar. 2026 Out of 10 sloths that arrived from Peru in February 2025, two were dead on arrival, and the remainder were emaciated and in very poor health, the report stated. — Julia Gomez, USA Today, 6 May 2026 In the opening moments, Loznitsa, working with the Romanian cinematographer Oleg Mutu, plants the camera before the prison gates, which open with a loud creak, allowing a fresh batch of emaciated arrivals to shuffle into a work yard. — Justin Chang, New Yorker, 20 Mar. 2026 An emaciated manatee calf was rescued on the Atlantic Ocean side of the Florida Keys on Tuesday and sent to SeaWorld Orlando for rehabilitation. — David Goodhue, Miami Herald, 6 May 2026 See All Example Sentences for emaciated
Recent Examples of Synonyms for emaciated
  1. gaunt
  2. faded
  3. haggard
  4. weakened
  5. skeletal
  6. sagged
Adjective
  • The church’s punishment, however, delivered in front of the congregants, is an eerie ritual performed by a gaunt, severe visitor (Nicholas Hope).
    — Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 19 June 2026
  • Brig is in the Upper Valais, a gaunt and conservative place where the inhabitants speak Walliser German, an Alpine dialect that many Swiss people find unintelligible.
    — Sam Knight, New Yorker, 1 June 2026
Definition of gaunt
Verb
  • As impact heating faded, the upper mantle cooled, and the once-thin basaltic crust thickened.
    — Jacek Krywko, ArsTechnica, 5 July 2026
  • On Saturday night, the visibility faded to a point where the old-school scoreboard above the center-field bleachers could not be seen from the press box high atop the Friendly Confines.
    — Patrick Mooney, New York Times, 5 July 2026
Definition of faded
Adjective
  • Rocking back and forth nervously during a television appearance, a haggard-looking Diaz-Canel acknowledged the same talks, which his government had denied were taking place just days before.
    — Patrick Oppmann, CNN Money, 22 Mar. 2026
  • Wrexham, meanwhile, was near the bottom, struggling in England’s lowest division under a haggard fan-ownership group keeping it on life support.
    — Justin Birnbaum, Sportico.com, 6 Mar. 2026
Definition of haggard
Verb
  • Yet finance, policy certainty and infrastructure weakened for the first time in more than a decade.
    — Güney Yıldız, Forbes.com, 30 June 2026
  • Internal fractures, economic decline and public frustration have weakened the movement and opened a new chapter of uncertainty.
    — Armando Regil Velasco, FOXNews.com, 30 June 2026
Definition of weakened
Adjective
  • There are existing methods for cleaning skeletal remains, such as burial, digestive enzymes, or chemical treatments.
    — Jennifer Ouellette, ArsTechnica, 1 July 2026
  • An experiment on mice conducted by a team of researchers from Texas A&M University has revealed a healing sequence in mammalian physiology that rebuilds lost skeletal structure, albeit with less than perfect results.
    — Mike McRae June 28, New Atlas, 28 June 2026
Definition of skeletal
Verb
  • From there, however, his scoring pace sagged somewhat down the stretch of Frölunda’s season.
    — Thomas Drance, New York Times, 5 June 2026
  • Weiss had initially sought to reinvent the CBS Evening News, dropping a two-anchor format that had sagged in the ratings.
    — David Folkenflik, NPR, 3 June 2026
Definition of sagged

Browse Nearby Words

emaciate
emaciated
emaciates
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Emaciated.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/emaciated. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on emaciated

Nglish: Translation of emaciated for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List

One-Word Oxymorons: Bittersweet, Spendthrift, and More

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
hangman letters and game
Hangman Lightning Round Figure out which word fits in the blanks.
See All