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Oct 15, 2013
This week's theme
Words from diseases

This week's words
measly
anemic
sclerotic
cancerous
pestilent

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

anemic

PRONUNCIATION:
(uh-NEEM-ik)

MEANING:
adjective:
1. Lacking vitality, strength, or colorfulness.
2. Suffering from anemia.

ETYMOLOGY:
From anemia (a condition in which one has a reduced number of red blood cells or hemoglobin), from Greek an- (without) + haima (blood). Earliest documented use: 1839. The word anemious is entirely different.

USAGE:
"You don't have much of a life ... you have to admit your social life is a bit anemic."
Robin Kaye; Wild Thing; Sourcebooks; 2011.

See more usage examples of anemic in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently. -Friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher (1844-1900)

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