etiolate

verb

eti·​o·​late ˈē-tē-ə-ˌlāt 

etiolated; etiolating

transitive verb

1

: to bleach and alter the natural development of (a green plant) by excluding sunlight

2

a

: to make pale

b

: to deprive of natural vigor : make feeble

etiolation

ˌē-tē-ə-ˈlā-shən 

noun

Did you know?

When we first started using "etiolate" in the late 1700s (borrowed from the French verb étioler), it was in reference to purposely depriving growing celery of light. The word traces back to an Old French word for "straw" and is related to the Latin word for "straw" or "stalk," which is "stipula." Nowadays the term for growing veggies as pale as straw is now more likely to be "blanch," which can mean "to bleach (the leaves or stalks of plants) by earthing, boarding, or wrapping," among other things. "Etiolate" is more apt to refer to depriving plants in general of light; when "etiolated," they are sickly, pale, and spindly. The figurative sense of "etiolate" ("to make pallid or feeble") first appeared in the 1800s as a natural outgrowth of the original sense.

Synonyms

• debilitate
• devitalize
• enervate
• enfeeble
• prostrate
• sap
• soften
• tire
• waste
• weaken

Examples of etiolate in a Sentence

the long, stressful days and sleepless nights gradually etiolated him

Recent Examples on the Web

Some etiolated form of what might be called Ledeenism lingered on before taking on new life at the outset of the Trump administration. —Jacob Heilbrunn, The New Republic, 23 Jan. 2020

Word History

Etymology

French étioler

First Known Use

1784, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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Medical Definition

etiolate

transitive verb

eti·​o·​late ˈēt-ē-ə-ˌlāt 

etiolated; etiolating

: to make pale and sickly

etiolation

ˌēt-ē-ə-ˈlā-shən 

noun