| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| valetudinarian |
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| SYLLABICATION: | val·e·tu·di·nar·i·an |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  v l  -t dn-âr  - n, -tyd- |
| NOUN: | A sickly or weak person, especially one who is constantly and morbidly concerned with his or her health: “She affected to be spunky about her ailments and afflictions, but she was in fact an utterly self-centered valetudinarian” (Louis Auchincloss). | | ADJECTIVE: | 1. Chronically ailing; sickly. 2. Constantly and morbidly concerned with one's health. | | ETYMOLOGY: | From Latin valt din rius, from valtd , valtdin-, state of health, from valre, to be strong or well. See wal- in Appendix I. | | OTHER FORMS: | vale·tudi·nari·an·ism —NOUN
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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