To etiolate means to make something pale, weak, or stunted, or to weaken it by hindering its growth or development.
To etiolate means to make something pale, weak, or stunted, or to weaken it by hindering its growth or development.
| Front | etiolate \EE-tee-uh-late\ |
|---|---|
| Back | transitive verb 1. To make pale, weak or stunted. 2. To make weak by stunting the growth or development of. [From French étioler (to make pale), from Latin stipula (straw). Earliest documented use: 1791.] "America itself was a stunted universe where men etiolate and shrink." - Herb Greer; Down With the Yanks! (Book Review); The World & I (Washington, DC); Feb 2004. "Convinced republican that I am, and foe of the prince who talks to plants and wants to be crowned 'head of all faiths' as well as the etiolated Church of England, I find myself pierced by a pang of sympathy. Not much of a life, is it, growing old and stale with no real job except waiting for the news of Mummy's death?" - Christopher Hitchens; Beware the In-Laws; Slate (New York); Apr 18, 2011. "If the history of the American sentence were a John Ford movie, its second act would conclude with the young Ernest Hemingway walking into a saloon, finding an etiolated Henry James slumped at the bar in a haze of indecision, and shooting him dead." - Adam Haslett; The Art of Good Writing; Financial Times (London, UK); Jan 21, 2011. |
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