Word: emaciate (verb)

Associations

"Emaciate" means to become very thin or weak, usually because of illness or lack of food.

• "After being sick for weeks, he started to emaciate." This means he became very thin and weak.
• "The prisoners were emaciated due to poor conditions." This shows extreme thinness caused by lack of food.
• "If you don’t eat enough, you may emaciate over time." It means losing too much weight. A close synonym is "thin," but "emaciate" often implies unhealthy or extreme thinness, not just being slim.

Substitution

You can use:

• "waste away" – focuses on losing weight and strength.
• "become gaunt" – means very thin and bony.
• "lose weight" – more general, not always unhealthy. Changing the word can make the sentence sound more or less serious.

Deconstruction

"Emaciate" comes from Latin:

• Prefix "e-" means "out" or "away."
• Root "macies" means "thinness." So, "emaciate" literally means "to make thin" or "to waste away."

Inquiry

• Can you think of situations where someone might emaciate?
• How does emaciation affect a person's health or appearance?
• Have you ever seen animals or people who look emaciated? What caused it?