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Atrophy is a process by which parts of the body, such as muscles and organs, lessen in size or weaken in strength due to internal nerve damage, poor nutrition, or aging.
When something attenuates, it lessens in size or intensity; it becomes thin or weakened.
Someone is considered cherubic when they appear angelic in the natural and slightly fat way of a small child or baby.
A person who is comely is attractive; this adjective is usually used with females, but not always.
The word corporeal refers to the physical or material world rather than the spiritual; it also means characteristic of the body rather than the mind or feelings.
Someone who is corpulent is extremely fat.
Decrepitude is the state of being very old, worn out, or very ill; therefore, something or someone is no longer in good physical condition or good health.
Someone who is ebullient is filled with enthusiasm, very happy, and extremely excited about something.
An effervescent individual is lively, very happy, and enthusiastic.
A person or animal that is emaciated is extremely thin because of a serious illness or lack of food.
If you show exuberance, you display great excitement, energy, and enthusiasm.
A gaunt person is extremely thin, often due to an extended illness or a lack of food over a long period of time.
Something grotesque is so distorted or misshapen that it is disturbing, bizarre, gross, or very ugly.
A harrowing experience is highly distressing, terrifying, or very disturbing.
If someone is indefatigable, they never show signs of getting tired.
If a dancer is lissome, she moves gracefully and is very flexible.
Someone with a lithe body can move easily and gracefully.
If someone is pallid, they look very pale in an unattractive and unhealthy way.
If someone is rotund, they have a round and fat body.
A salubrious place or area is pleasant, clean, healthy, and comfortable to live in.
A salutary experience is beneficial to you since it strengthens you in some way, although it may be unpleasant as you undergo it; this word also refers to promoting good health.
If you say that something is somatic, you mean that it relates to or affects the body and not the mind.
The adjective svelte describes a person who is attractive, slender, and possesses a graceful figure.
Something tenuous is thin, weak, and unconvincing.
If you are unflagging while doing a task, you are untiring when working upon it and do not stop until it is finished.
An unkempt person or thing is untidy and has not been kept neat.
Something or someone that is unprepossessing is not impressive or is unattractive.
If someone is described as vivacious, they are lively and have a happy, lighthearted manner.
Someone who is winsome is attractive and charming.
A wizened person is very old, shrunken with age, and has a lot of wrinkles on their skin.
Someone who is zealous spends a lot of time, energy, and effort to support something— notably that of a political or religious nature—because they believe in it very strongly.
Adj.
haggard
HAG-erd
Context
The haggard or careworn sailor was wild and tired in appearance, with great dark circles under his eyes. His haggard and wasted body showed years of hard labor in the wind and rain, which had carved many wrinkles into his old-looking face. I could hardly believe it when I discovered that this haggard and exhausted man was not yet thirty years of age.
Quiz:Try again!
When might you be described as looking haggard?
If you’d just been rescued after being stranded on an island for days.
If you’d grown a beard and hadn’t trimmed or combed it in a week.
If you’d suddenly been shaken awake by a powerful earthquake.
Hagrid's Imprisonment When Hagrid was put into Azkaban he became very haggard in appearance.
Examples
“People know stress is bad for the heart and makes you look tired and haggard and makes us more vulnerable to infections,” Puterman says.
—
WebMD
Members of the Iraqi Governing Council who met with him shortly after his arrest said he made aggressive jokes at their expense, and was hardly the haggard, disoriented person he seemed in initial pictures.
—
The Christian Science Monitor
Austin Beutner looked haggard, his face a curtain of worry lines.
—
NPR
I looked pretty haggard after my long flight and I was dressed in jeans and an oversized sweatshirt I’d bought in the airport because I was cold.
—
Forbes
Word Ingredients
From a root word meaning “wild.” Things found in the wild have not been tamed or domesticated or may not be very well fed, so can have a haggard appearance. This word is also possibly related to the word “hag,” or “ugly old woman.”
origin: French
Knowing language of origin or etymology is not important; but is sometimes interesting enough to make the word memorable. Only such words have associated maps.
Word Theater
YouTube: Online News Bank These finishers of the Manchester Marathon are haggard.
The panel shows a small video clip of either the word in actual use or a scene that represents the meaning of a word. This not only breaks up the monotony of studying words but also provides another avenue to strengthen word meaning. Enjoy!
