wan
Drained of color
Wan describes a pale, sickly appearance suggesting illness, exhaustion, or emotional distress: Her wan face worried the nurse.
A wan smile is weak and lacking warmth—an attempt at pleasantness that doesn't quite succeed.
Light can be wan when it's faint or dim: the wan glow of winter sun.
The word carries a sense of diminished vitality.
Unhealthily lacking color
- ashenPale, grayish-white
- blanchedMade white by heat
- sallowUnhealthily yellowish complexion
- chalkyPale and dusty-textured
colorless · ghostly · white · milky · alabaster · ivory · pastel · muted
Lacking power or force
watery · insipid · halfhearted · lackluster · tepid · spiritless · limp · ineffectual
pallid
Unhealthily lacking color
chalky · colorless · ghostly · white · milky · alabaster · ivory · pastel · muted · subdued
ailing
In poor health
feeble · haggard · gaunt · drawn · peaked · peaky · anemic · weak · tired · fatigued
weak
Lacking power or force
thin · watery · insipid · halfhearted · lackluster · tepid · spiritless · limp · ineffectual · anemic
pale
Lacking color intensity
- dimLow in light
- faintWeak and indistinct
- glimmeringFaintly and unsteadily luminous
flickering · weak · soft · muted · hazy · diffuse · moonlit · ghostly · spectral · ethereal
sad
Emotionally low
doleful · plaintive · sorrowful · weary · dejected · dispirited · cheerless · gloomy · somber · despondent
- help wantedEmployment listings header
- wanted to knowDesired information
- wanted posterNotice seeking fugitive's capture
- wax and waneFluctuate in cycles
- wanted listRoster of sought criminals
- not wantedLacking any desire for
wanted, wanting, wane, unwanted, waning, wanton, wanes, wanly, wanness