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Haggard vs Worn vs Careworn vs Pinched vs Wasted vs Cadaverous

Haggard, worncarewornpinchedwastedcadaverous are comparable when they mean thin and drawn by or as if by worry, fatigue, hunger, or illness.

Haggard may imply a wild frightening appearance (as of a person driven distraught by fear, anxiety, privation, or suffering), but it usually also implies an extreme thinness or gauntness that is normally associated with age but that comes to younger persons who never know physical or mental ease.

Worn is the more accurate word for the latter sense of haggard, for it definitely implies the attrition of flesh characteristic of senility and induced in younger persons by overwork, worry, exhaustion, or prolonged ill health.

Careworn differs from worn chiefly in its implication of a being overburdened with cares and responsibilities that cause anxiety.

Pinched and wasted suggest the effects of privation or of a wasting disease.

Cadaverous is often used in place of pinched or wasted when there is the intent to suggest the appearance of a corpse; it usually implies a deathly paleness and an extreme emaciation so that the skeleton is apparent though not visible.