English

Adjective

valetudinarian ‎(comparative more valetudinarian, superlative most valetudinarian)

1. sickly, infirm, of ailing health

   The valetudinarian habit of discussing his health had grown on Rose... -- Florence Anne Sellar MacCunn, Sir Walter Scott's Friends, 1910, p. 234

   • Macaulay

     The virtue which the world wants is a healthful virtue, not a valetudinarian virtue.

2. being overly worried about one's health

Translations

Synonyms

• hypochondriac

Noun

valetudinarian ‎(plural valetudinarians)

1. A person in poor health or sickly, especially one who is constantly obsessed with their state of health

   The most uninformed mind, with a healthy body, is happier than the wisest valetudinarian. -- Thomas Jefferson, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson (1904), p. 168.

   • 1950, Mervyn Peake, Gormenghast

     Are you a mere valetudinarian, my dear Ladyship, or some prolific mendicant whose bewitched offspring she hopes I can return to human shape?

   She affected to be spunky about her ailments and afflictions, but she was in fact an utterly self-centered valetudinarian (Louis Auchincloss) The American Heritage Dictionary

   The cuisine, of course, would not be such as would raise water bubbles in the mouth of a valetudinarian; the carniverous propensity will mostly be gratified by steak which, when cut, will resemble the Mudhook Yacht Club burgee of rouge et noir; and savory soups and luscious salmon will be luxuries only obtainable in "cannister" form. -- Dixon Kemp, A Manual of Yacht and Boat Sailing (4th Ed.), 1884.

Translations

Synonyms

• hypochondriac

References

• valetudinarian in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913