Meanings
plural bulimias
- countableuncountablemedicineA chronic eating disorder characterized by a binge-and-purge cycle: extreme overeating followed by self-induced vomiting.
Grow up, Heather, bulimia is so '87.
1989, Daniel Waters, Heathers, spoken by Heather Chandler1 more example
Once considered a risk only for wealthy, high-achieving teenage girls, eating disorders such as anorexia (and, more rarely, bulimia) are becoming increasingly common among children, even little boys.
2011 August 8, Margaret Renkl, “The scary trend of tweens with anorexia”, in CNN, archived from the original on 14 Jan 2012Synonyms: bulimia nervosa
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA chronic eating disorder characterized by a binge-and-purge cycle: extreme overeating followed by self-induced vomiting.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna disorder of eating seen among young women who go on eating binges and then feel guilt and depression and self-condemnation
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*gʷṓws
- Proto-Hellenic*gʷous
- Ancient Greekβοῦς (boûs)
- Ancient Greekλῑμός (līmós)
- Ancient Greekβούλῑμος (boúlīmos)
- Ancient Greekβουλῑμῐ́ᾱ (boulīmĭ́ā)
- Englishbulimia
Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek βουλῑμῐ́ᾱ (boulīmĭ́ā, “ravenous hunger”), from βούλῑμος (boúlīmos) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā).
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian булимия нервоза
- булимия нервоза (bulimija nervoza)eating disorder
Catalan bulímia, bulímia nerviosa
- bulímiaeating disorder
- bulímia nerviosaeating disorder
Chinese Mandarin 暴食症, 神經性暴食症 /神经性暴食症
- 暴食症 (bàoshízhèng)eating disorder
- 神經性暴食症 /神经性暴食症 (shénjīngxìng bàoshízhèng)eating disorder
Czech bulimie
- bulimieeating disorder
Dutch boulimie
- boulimieeating disorder
Esperanto bulimio
- bulimioeating disorder
Estonian buliimia
- buliimiaeating disorder
Finnish bulimia, ahmimishäiriö
- bulimiaeating disorder
- ahmimishäiriöeating disorder
French boulimie
- boulimieeating disorder
German Bulimie
- Bulimieeating disorder
Greek ψυχογενής βουλιμία, νευρογενής βουλιμία
- ψυχογενής βουλιμία (psychogenís voulimía)eating disorder
- νευρογενής βουλιμία (nevrogenís voulimía)eating disorder
Icelandic lotugræðgi
- lotugræðgieating disorder
Indonesian bulimia
- bulimiaeating disorder
Irish búilime néarógach
- búilime néarógacheating disorder
Italian bulimia
- bulimiaeating disorder
Japanese 過食症
- 過食症 (kashokushō)eating disorder
Lithuanian bulimija, hiperoreksija
- bulimijaeating disorder
- hiperoreksijaeating disorder
Norwegian bulimi
- bulimieating disorder
Polish bulimia nervosa, żarłoczność psychiczna
- bulimia nervosaeating disorder
- żarłoczność psychicznaeating disorder
Portuguese bulimia
- bulimiaeating disorder
Romanian bulimia nervoasă
- bulimia nervoasăeating disorder
Russian булими́я, не́рвная булими́я
- булими́я (bulimíja)eating disorder
- не́рвная булими́я (nérvnaja bulimíja)eating disorder
Scottish Gaelic acras geur
- acras geureating disorder
Spanish bulimia, bulimia nerviosa
- bulimiaeating disorder
- bulimia nerviosaeating disorder
Swedish bulimi
- bulimieating disorder
Turkish bulimiya nervoza
- bulimiya nervozaeating disorder
Ukrainian булімі́я, нерво́ва булімі́я
- булімі́я (bulimíja)eating disorder
- нерво́ва булімі́я (nervóva bulimíja)eating disorder
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with bulimia
All rhymes →Cite this entry
bulimia. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bulimia
“bulimia.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bulimia. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bulimia,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bulimia.
Source: bulimia on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.