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MACILENT/ˈmæsɪlənt/ Lean, shrivelled, or excessively thin. This word was marked as rare in dictionaries a century ago and has become even more so since, though it retains a niche in elevated or pretentious prose. It’s from Latin macilentus, lean. In 1851 a writer evoked with it a victim of tuberculosis: “of whom I could recollect nothing but a macilent figure, stretched upon a sofa and scarcely breathing”. It can also have a figurative sense that refers to poor-quality or inferior writing. A reviewer of Britney Spears’s album In the Zone in 2003 described it as “Britney’s most personal statement. Because it’s as lost and macilent and alluring and eager to please and disturbingly empty-eyed as she is.” |
Page created 20 Nov. 2004
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