etiolate
to cause (a plant) to whiten or grow pale by excluding light: to etiolate celery.
to cause to become weakened or sickly; drain of color or vigor.
(of plants) to whiten or grow pale through lack of light.
Origin of etiolate
1Other words from etiolate
- e·ti·o·la·tion, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use etiolate in a sentence
Pauline surrendered, and they went across the etiolated lawn towards the entrance.
Plashers Mead | Compton MackenzieThe undergrowth was green, but in the etiolated way of plants which have little light, though that may have been my fancy.
The Sea and the Jungle | H. M. TomlinsonBecause of this fact, magnesium-starvation produces etiolated plants, which cannot function normally.
The Chemistry of Plant Life | Roscoe Wilfred ThatcherIt can thus develop its personality so that it does not become etiolated and atrophied like a domestic animal.
The Sexual Question | August ForelHis voice was hollow, etiolated like a flower grown in darkness.
The Jewels of Aptor | Samuel R. Delany
British Dictionary definitions for etiolate
/ (ˈiːtɪəʊˌleɪt) /
botany to whiten (a green plant) through lack of sunlight
to become or cause to become pale and weak, as from malnutrition
Origin of etiolate
1Derived forms of etiolate
- etiolation, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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