Link Centre Dictionary

etiolation

etio·la·tion

UK/ˌiːtiəˈleɪʃən/ uncommon

noun

1.

a pale and sickly appearance

  • “his etiolation signaled years in prison”
2.

the act of weakening by stunting the growth or development of something

  • “the etiolation of the critical tradition”
3.

(botany) the act of causing a plant to develop without chlorophyll by growing it without exposure to sunlight

  • “the etiolation of celery”

Origin

From French étiolé, past participle of étioler (“to blanch”).

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.