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Definition of "emaciate" [e•ma•ci•ate]

  • To make or become extremely thin, especially as a result of starvation. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "emaciate" in a sentence
  • "For an industry that thrives on an if-it-bleeds-it-leads attitude, you have to wonder how jaded this industry is to allow someone to emaciate themselves right in public; right in front of them."
  • "A key component of that warfare by the ubër rich was to emaciate or destroy the unions through new laws restricting unionization, bankruptcy courts killing labor contracts, diversion of pension funds, abusive tactics against organizers, shipping jobs elsewhere and PR campaigns vilifying the very concept of collective bargaining to redress serious economic disadvantages."
  • "Sometimes the poor creature will let their children literally emaciate in order to fund their habits, whilst all the while they know what they are doing but so damage is their capacity to reason that their entire physiological organism seizes to function adequately."