Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A sickly or weak person, especially one who is constantly and morbidly concerned with his or her health.
- adjective Chronically ailing; sickly.
- adjective Constantly and morbidly concerned with one's health.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Being in a poor state of health; weak; infirm; invalid; delicate; seeking to recover health.
- noun A person of a weak, infirm, or sickly constitution; one who is seeking to recover health; an invalid.
- noun Also
valetudinary .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Of infirm health; seeking to recover health; sickly; weakly; infirm.
- noun A person of a weak or sickly constitution; one who is seeking to recover health.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective
sickly ,infirm , ofailing health - adjective being
overly worried about one's health - noun A person in poor health or
sickly , especially one who is constantlyobsessed with their state ofhealth
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective of or relating to or characteristic of a person who is a valetudinarian
- noun weak or sickly person especially one morbidly concerned with his or her health
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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At this moment, the stranger who had put the coachman and groom right about the word valetudinarian, rose from the seat he had occupied in the corner of the room, and uttering a deep, hollow groan, walked towards the door.
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I never write 'valetudinarian' at all, for not even hunger and wretchedness can humble me to the point where I will do a word like that for seven cents; I wouldn't do it for fifteen.
Mark Twain`s speeches; with an introduction by William Dean Howells. 1910
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I never write 'valetudinarian' at all, for not even hunger and wretchedness can humble me to the point where I will do a word like that for seven cents;
Mark Twain's Speeches Mark Twain 1872
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A "valetudinarian" is a10-dollar word for someone who is sickly.
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A "valetudinarian" is a10-dollar word for someone who is sickly.
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Her valetudinarian but masterful father, son of a wool merchant, became sufficiently well-to-do to retire from business.
Ada Leverson. 2009
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At three and twenty he thought himself a valetudinarian, and passed his life in inspecting his tongue in the mirror.
Les Miserables 2008
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The gentlemen received the communication with stoical indifference, and Mrs. Tibbs devoted all her energies to prepare for the reception of the valetudinarian.
Sketches by Boz 2007
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You, who have nothing to fear on that score, might wish to play the valetudinarian as a novelty.
The Scandal of the Season Sophie Gee 2007
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ONE hour more to dinner-time conversation, to be added or subtracted, as occasions offered, or the desire of her friends required: and yet found it difficult, as she often said, to keep this account even; especially if Dr. Lewen obliged them with his company at their table; which, however he seldom did; for, being a valetudinarian, and in a regimen, he generally made his visits in the afternoon.
Clarissa Harlowe 2006
brtom commented on the word valetudinarian
True, madam, there are valetudinarians in reputation as well as constitution ...
Sheridan, School for Scandal
January 6, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word valetudinarian
"'I might prefer to wait for Yarell, whose present incumbent, a valetudinarian of over seventy, lives in Bath.'"
--O'Brian, The Truelove, 74
March 10, 2008