unnourished
Lacking vital sustenance
Unnourished means not provided with nourishment—lacking the food, sustenance, or care needed to thrive.
The word applies literally to bodies deprived of nutrition, but extends to anything starved of what it needs: an unnourished mind, an unnourished relationship.
The soil lay unnourished after years of neglect.
Lacking adequate food
- starvedSuffering extreme hunger
- emaciatedAbnormally wasted from hunger
- gauntLean from deprivation
- wastedUsed without good result
skeletal · scrawny · underweight · anemic · famished · pallid · sallow · cadaverous
Lacking necessities
- uncared-forLacking attention or maintenance
- untendedNot looked after
- abandonedLeft behind completely
- overlookedNot noticed or considered
forsaken · wanting · bereft · starving · impoverished · lacking · unfed · unattended
Weak and breakable
- feebleWeak and ineffective
- debilitatedMade weak or infirm
- enervatedDepleted of vitality
- infirmWeak in body
fragile · languid · listless · exhausted · sapped · enfeebled · delicate · fatigued
Insufficiently grown or advanced
- dwarfedMade to appear smaller
- impededObstructed or slowed
- inhibitedHeld back by self-consciousness
- restrictedLimited in scope
arrested · retarded · diminished · undeveloped · hampered · constrained · curtailed · withered
underfed
Lacking adequate food
wasted · skeletal · scrawny · underweight · anemic · famished · pallid · sallow · cadaverous · atrophied
deprived
Lacking necessities
- uncared-forLacking attention or maintenance
- untendedNot looked after
- abandonedLeft behind completely
overlooked · forsaken · wanting · bereft · starving · impoverished · lacking · unfed · unattended · disregarded
frail
Weak and breakable
- feebleWeak and ineffective
- debilitatedMade weak or infirm
- enervatedDepleted of vitality
infirm · fragile · languid · listless · exhausted · sapped · enfeebled · delicate · fatigued · lethargic
underdeveloped
Insufficiently grown or advanced
restricted · arrested · retarded · diminished · undeveloped · hampered · constrained · curtailed · withered · blighted