wan

(wŏn)

adj. wan·ner, wan·nest

1. Unnaturally pale, as from physical or emotional distress.

2. Suggestive or indicative of weariness, illness, or unhappiness; melancholy: a wan expression.

intr.v. wanned, wan·ning, wans

To become pale.

[Middle English, pale, gloomy, from Old English wann, gloomy, dark.]

wan′ly adv.

wan′ness n.

WAN

(wăn)

A communications network that uses such devices as telephone lines, satellite dishes, or radio waves to span a larger geographic area than can be covered by a LAN.

[w(ide) a(rea) n(etwork).]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

wanness - unnatural lack of color in the skin (as from bruising or sickness or emotional distress)

achromasia, lividness, paleness, pallidness, pallor, luridness, lividity

complexion, skin color, skin colour - the coloring of a person's face

Translations

شُحوب

blegnæbbethed

Blässe

pâleur

hal ványság

fölvi

solgunluk

苍白憔悴

wanness

[ˈwɒnnɪs] N → palidez f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

wanness

n (= paleness) → Blässe f; (of light) → Mattheit f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

wan

(won) adjective

pale and sickly-looking. She still looks wan after her illness.

ˈwanly adverb

ˈwanness noun

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

In the pale moonlight, which lent a wanness of its own to the delicate face where thoughtful care already mingled with the winning grace and loveliness of youth, the too bright eye, the spiritual head, the lips that pressed each other with such high resolve and courage of the heart, the slight figure firm in its bearing and yet so very weak, told their silent tale; but told it only to the wind that rustled by, which, taking up its burden, carried, perhaps to some mother's pillow, faint dreams of childhood fading in its bloom, and resting in the sleep that knows no waking.

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About his large bright eyes that used to be so merry there was a wanness and a restlessness that changed them altogether.

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When a door, at length, closed upon her, my glance sought instinctively and eagerly the countenance of the brother--but he had buried his face in his hands, and I could only perceive that a far more than ordinary wanness had overspread the emaciated fingers through which trickled many passionate tears.

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