Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Relating to or suffering from anemia.
- adj. Lacking vitality; listless and weak: an anemic attempt to hit the baseball; an anemic economic recovery.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Pertaining to or affected with anemia; deficient in blood; bloodless: as, anemic symptoms; an anemic patient.
Wiktionary
- adj. Of or pertaining to anemia.
- adj. by extension Weak; listless; lacking power, vigor, vitality, or colorfulness.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. relating to anemia or suffering from anemia
- adj. lacking vigor or energy
Etymologies
- From anemia + -ic. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Despite the fretting of many Wall Street pundits, U.S. consumer spending, albeit anemic, is still growing.”
Forbes: Options Plays For Winning Big With Wynn, Netflix And A Hot Chipotle
“The friction is likely to get rougher if many major economies remain anemic, as projected.”
“I checked the newscritics comments on the launch of Season 2 - reminds me of the "love to hate" stuff with Studio 60, but in anemic numbers and fewer words, so maybe the fun of that groove is wearing off.”
“Washington was particularly anemic from the floor in the first half, shooting 26 percent (7-of-27) overall and missing all nine of its 3-point attempts.”
“I would use the word anemic," said Shaun Bowler, a political science professor at the University of California Riverside.”
“The recruitment program is described as anemic, training as "severely deficient in nearly every respect," and supervision as poor or in some cases nonexistent.”
“According to the New York Times, "His (Lakes) failed nomination in 1997 to become C.I.A. director became bogged down as Congressional critics of the Clinton administration chided Mr. Lake for what they called his anemic response to campaign fund-raising abuses that swirled around President Bill Clinton while Mr. Lake was national security adviser.”
“The governor said his own budgeting assumes zero growth in state government revenues for fiscal year starting July 1, 2009, and 3 percent - "anemic" - the following fiscal year.”
“Characterized by anemic growth, the U.S. economy showed signs of hope today when a band of YouTube users outlined a plan for a full economic recovery.”
The Huffington Post: Pablo Andreu: U.S. Budget Balanced in Giggling Baby Video's Comments Section
“That's why if you are anemic, that is have fewer functioning red blood cells, you feel run down.”
Dr. Andrew Lange: Is Breathing Deeply Really Good For Your Health?
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘anemic’.
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beyond pale
Words meaning or invoking the different aspects of pale.
Not just colour, but also the ideas of impermanence, illness, weakness. (Just not the two noun forms – a thin strip of metal or woo...pale, pallid, wan, light, misty, ethereal, cream, dim, white, thin, waning, colourless and 62 more...
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"IC" ending words
pendantic, elastic, autistic, archiac, civic, eccentric, aspic, basic, caustic, acoustic, anemic, antic and 17 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6689 more...
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miscellany
extrapolate, effluvium, maelstrom, ecclesiastic, potentiate, prestidigitation, verisimilitude, innocuous, octogenarian, interlocutor, proselytize, ubiquitous and 138 more...
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Junk
walrus, fascination, broadway, fickle, downturn, bridge, gargle, rotunda, mesh, fab, shortlife, strumming and 304 more...
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parody's Words
defenestrate, behemoth, floss, macchiato, glom, emu, alpaca, crocheted, ampersand, charade, conflate, salacious and 193 more...
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SAT PSAT ALPHABETICAL A
abandon, abash, abate, abjure, ablution, abnegate, abominable, aboriginal, abortive, abrade, abridge, abrogate and 172 more...
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GRE
Taisha GRE Bible
archaic, archetype, archipelago, architect, archive, arctic, ardor, arduous, argot, arid, armory, arrest and 289 more...
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NTDW1
template, modal, sublingual, tandem, polycentric, septuagenarian, token, irrevocable, denotive, augural, aberrant, phlebotomy and 1188 more...
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tomax's Words
legerdemain, yayo, extravasation, wont, faze, coxswain, concomitant, enclave, unguent, rhabdomyolysis, effluent, puerile and 432 more...
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cloudjuice's Words
schadenfreude, sordid, promulgate, erratic, erroneous, amalgamate, sesquipedalian, incongruous, psychosis, etymology, simulacrum, serendipity and 988 more...
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GRE
acrimony, verisimilitude, tenebrious, tenebrous, dishabille, unfettered, deplorable, woebegone, credulity, naïveté, mitigate, meliorate and 475 more...
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dienekes's Words
chutzpah, lexicon, intrepid, pedagogical, schlemiel, schism, erudite, anathema, pugilist, jaunty, paradigm, automaton and 949 more...
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Tory's First Wordie List
perambulate, mumpsimus, euphoric, peripatetic, mellifluous, soporific, neologism, nihilism, nepotism, effervescent, lascivious, esoteric and 217 more...
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norrell's Words
hush, dove, euphoria, nebulae, bryn mawr, darling, phoenix, nape, cream, butterscotch, cosmos, frost and 190 more...
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ginnylev's Words
neuroplasticity, repudiate, scintilla, ruminate, tautology, ombudsman, exigent, filibuster, grace, ambidextrous, amends, disclosure and 623 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for anemic.

seanahan I think this is just a case of you fitting your mental image to the word. Of course, the vowel sound makes it seem small. "a-nee-mic", "wee", "teeny". Dec 15, 2006
mikepurvis This is one of those great ones that really evokes its meaning... almost borders on an onomatopoeia. Doesn't it just sound like the flattest word ever? Dec 15, 2006