Lymphatic
/lɪmˈfæ.tɪk/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjPertaining to lymph or the lymphatic system.
adjLacking energy or enthusiasm; having characteristics once associated with an excess of lymph: lack of muscle tone, paleness, sluggishness, etc.
Sentence Examples
The spa offers lymphatic drainage massages.
Benedito's spa has a lymphatic drainage machine.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ system includes lymph nodes and vessels that filter out harmful germs.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The doctor explained that the ____ system plays a very important role in the body's immune response.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree English lymph Proto-Indo-European *-tis Ancient Greek -τις (-tis) Ancient Greek -σῐς (-sĭs) Proto-Indo-European *-kos Ancient Greek -κός (-kós) ? Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Hellenic *-tós Ancient Greek -τος (-tos) ▲ Ancient Greek -κός (-kós) ? Ancient Greek -τῐκός (-tĭkós)bor. English -tic English -atic English lymphatic From lymph + -atic.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Eleonore Lemindre, aged 34, tailoress, of a sanguine lymphatic temperament, having suffered great depression of spirits, experienced, in the course of 1820, symptoms of what is called disease of the heart."
— 1833, R. J. Bertin, translated by Charles W. Chauncy, Treatise on the Diseases of the Heart, and Great Vessels, Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blnachard, page 188:
"Streaker, the housemaid, too, had an attribute of a most discomfiting nature. I am unable to say whether she was of an unusually lymphatic temperament, or what else was the matter with her, but this young woman became a mere Distillery for the production of the largest and most transparent tears I ever met with."
— 1859 December 13, Charles Dickens, “The Mortals in the House”, in Charles Dickens, editor, The Haunted House. The Extra Christmas Number of All the Year Round […], volume II, London: […] C[harles] Whiting, […], →OCLC, page 5:
"Who has not marked, where the full cheek should be,
Incipient lines of lank flaccidity,
Lymphatic pallor where the pink should glow,
And where the throb of transport, pulses low?—"
— 1898, Thomas Hardy, “Lines”, in Wessex Poems and Other Verses, London: Macmillan & Co., published 1919, page 224:
"He was a lymphatic, half-witted Hindu youth, who lived his life in almost complete silence[…]"
— 1934, George Orwell, Burmese Days:
"Hari, the holy man, who was to be the pundit that day, was just as Mr Biswas remembered him, just as soft-spoken and lymphatic. His felt hat sat softly on his head. He greeted Mr Biswas without rancour, without pleasure, without interest."
— 1961, V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas, Vintage International, published 2001, Part One, Chapter 4:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ system includes lymph nodes and vessels that filter out harmful germs.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The doctor explained that the ____ system plays a very important role in the body's immune response.