wan

• POS: Adjective, Noun

CIDE DICTIONARY

wan, imp. 

 Won.  Chaucer.  [1913 Webster]

wan, a. [AS. wann, wonn, wan, won, dark, lurid, livid, perhaps originally, worn out by toil, from winnan to labor, strive. See Win.].

 Having a pale or sickly hue; languid of look; pale; pallid.  Spenser.  [1913 Webster]
"My color . . . [is] wan and of a leaden hue."  [1913 Webster]
"Why so pale and wan, fond lover?"  [1913 Webster]
"With the wan moon overhead."  [1913 Webster]

wan, n. 

 The quality of being wan; wanness.  [1913 Webster]
"Tinged with wan from lack of sleep."  [1913 Webster]

wan, v. i. 

 To grow wan; to become pale or sickly in looks.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]
"And ever he mutter'd and madden'd, and ever wann'd with despair."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

wan, adj.
1 (of a person's complexion or appearance) pale; exhausted; worn.
2 (of a star etc. or its light) partly obscured; faint.
3 archaic (of night, water, etc.) dark, black.

Derivative

wanly adv. wanness n.

Etymology

OE wann dark, black, of unkn. orig.

THESAURUS

wan

achromatic, achromic, anemic, apathetic, ashen, ashy, benumbed, blanch, blanched, blase, bleach, bleach out, bleached, bled white, bloodless, blue, bored, cadaverous, change color, chloranemic, colorless, corpselike, dead, deadened, deadly, deadly pale, deathlike, deathly, deathly pale, debilitated, dim, dimmed, dingy, discolored, dopey, dormant, doughy, drab, drawn, droopy, drugged, dull, eerie, emasculate, enervated, etiolated, exanimate, exsanguinated, exsanguine, exsanguineous, fade, fade out, faded, faint, fallow, flat, forceless, ghastly, ghostlike, ghostly, gray, grisly, grow pale, gruesome, haggard, heavy, hebetudinous, hollow-eyed, hueless, hypochromic, impotent, inanimate, ineffective, ineffectual, inert, invertebrate, jaded, lackadaisical, lackluster, languid, languorous, leaden, lethargic, lifeless, listless, livid, lose color, lumpish, lurid, lusterless, macabre, mat, mealy, moribund, mortuary, muddy, neutral, numb, pale, pale as death, pale-faced, pallid, pasty, phlegmatic, pooped, ravaged, sallow, sated, sickly, sleepy, slow, sluggish, somber, somnolent, spineless, stagnant, stagnating, stultified, supine, tallow-faced, tired-eyed, tired-faced, tired-looking, toneless, torpid, turn pale, turn white, uncanny, uncolored, unearthly, vegetable, vegetative, washed-out, waxen, weak, weary, weary-looking, weird, whey-faced, white, whiten, world-weary, worn

ROGET THESAURUS

wan

Dejection

N dejection, dejectedness, depression, prosternation, lowness of spirits, depression of spirits, weight on the spirits, oppression on the spirits, damp on the spirits, low spirits, bad spirits, drooping spirits, depressed spirits, heart sinking, heaviness of heart, failure of heart, heaviness, infestivity, gloom, weariness, taedium vitae, disgust of life, mal du pays, anhedonia, melancholy, sadness, il penseroso, melancholia, dismals, blues, lachrymals, mumps, dumps, blue devils, doldrums, vapors, megrims, spleen, horrors, hypochondriasis, pessimism, la maladie sans maladie, despondency, slough of Despond, disconsolateness, hope deferred, blank despondency, voiceless woe, prostration of soul, broken heart, despair, cave of despair, cave of Trophonius demureness, gravity, solemnity, long face, grave face, hypochondriac, seek sorrow, self-tormentor, heautontimorumenos, malade imaginaire, medecin tant pis, croaker, pessimist, mope, mopus, affliction, sorry sight, memento mori, damper, wet blanket, Job's comforter, cheerless, joyless, spiritless, uncheerful, uncheery, unlively, unhappy, melancholy, dismal, somber, dark, gloomy, triste, clouded, murky, lowering, frowning, lugubrious, funereal, mournful, lamentable, dreadful, dreary, flat, dull, dull as a beetle, dull as ditchwater, depressing, melancholy as a gib cat, oppressed with melancholy, a prey to melancholy, downcast, downhearted, down in the mouth, down in one's luck, heavy-hearted, in the dumps, down in the dumps, in the suds, in the sulks, in the doldrums, in doleful dumps, in bad humor, sullen, mumpish, dumpish, mopish, moping, moody, glum, sulky, out of sorts, out of humor, out of heart, out of spirits, ill at ease, low spirited, in low spirits, a cup too low, weary, discouraged, disheartened, desponding, chapfallen, chopfallen, jaw fallen, crest fallen, sad, pensive, penseroso, tristful, dolesome, doleful, woebegone, lacrymose, lachrymose, in tears, melancholic, hypped, hypochondriacal, bilious, jaundiced, atrabilious, saturnine, splenetic, lackadaisical, serious, sedate, staid, stayed, grave as a judge, grave as an undertaker, grave as a mustard pot, sober, sober as a judge, solemn, demure, grim, grim-faced, grim-visaged, rueful, wan, long-faced, disconsolate, unconsolable, inconsolable, forlorn, comfortless, desolate, desole, sick at heart, soul sick, heart sick, au desespoir, in despair, lost, overcome, broken down, borne down, bowed down, heartstricken, cut up, dashed, sunk, unnerved, unmanned, down fallen, downtrodden, broken-hearted, careworn, with a long face, with tears in one's eyes, sadly, the countenance falling, the heart failing, the heart sinking within one, a plague of sighing and grief, thick-ey'd musing and curs'd melancholy, the sickening pang of hope deferred.

Achromatism

N achromatism, decoloration, discoloration, pallor, pallidness, pallidity, paleness, etiolation, neutral tint, monochrome, black and white, uncolored &c (color), colorless, achromatic, aplanatic, etiolate, etiolated, hueless, pale, pallid, palefaced, tallow-faced, faint, dull, cold, muddy, leaden, dun, wan, sallow, dead, dingy, ashy, ashen, ghastly, cadaverous, glassy, lackluster, discolored, light-colored, fair, blond, white, pale as death, pale as ashes, pale as a witch, pale as a ghost, pale as a corpse, white as a corpse.