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Emaciated

Disease
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Extremely thin, wasted, and physically weak, usually from disease, starvation, or prolonged deprivation; often used to evoke suffering or neglect.

Detailed Definition
Emaciated describes a body reduced by disease, deprivation, grief, or prolonged exertion until its bones and outlines seem starkly exposed. Poets use it to register vulnerability without requiring a named diagnosis. An emaciated animal, tree, moon, or city can become an image of endurance under extreme depletion. The word is powerful in witness poetry and elegy, though its severity calls for attention to dignity rather than spectacle.
Example
Example in poetry:
An emaciated dog searched the empty market, making hunger visible through its body; The emaciated moon hung thin above the roofs, using bodily weakness as metaphor; An emaciated tree in winter can suggest deprivation rather than simple seasonal change; The poet’s emaciated survivor embodies the cost of drought and famine
Additional Notes
Suggests starvation, wasting illness, or extreme poverty. Its stark visual force makes it a powerful image of deprivation.
Also Known As
Wasted Gaunt Attenuated haggard Atrophic
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