wan

/wɑn/

/wɒn/

Other forms: wans; wanning; wanner; waner; wanned; wannest

Someone who is wan is visibly unwell and lacking in energy. If you’ve had the flu for over a week, and you finally get out of bed looking pale and tired, your mother might say that you look wan.

When your aunt comes to dinner and eats three helpings of dessert, she might seem a little wan as she drinks her tea, meaning she looks sickly and weak — and no wonder, after so many slices of pie! Wan can also describe a fading light — one that is sickly and weak, just like your aunt. When the light bulb in the living room burns out and leaves only wan twilight filtering in, you’ll find it impossible to read.

Definitions of wan

1. adjective

   abnormally deficient in color as suggesting physical or emotional distress
   “her wan face suddenly flushed”

   synonyms: mealy, pale, pallid

   colorless, colourless

   weak in color; not colorful
2. adjective

   (of light) lacking in intensity or brightness; dim or feeble
   “the wan light of dawn”

   synonyms: pale, pallid, sick

   weak

   wanting in physical strength
3. adjective

   lacking vitality as from weariness or illness or unhappiness
   “a wan smile”

   synonyms:

   unanimated

   not animated or enlivened; dull
4. verb

   become pale and sickly
   type of:

   come down, sicken

   get sick