Adjacent Words

Debilitate definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DEBIL'ITATE, v.t. To weaken; to impair the strength of; to enfeeble; to make faint or languid. Intemperance debilitates the organs of digestion. Excessive indulgence debilitates the system.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: make weak; "Life in the camp drained him" [syn: enfeeble, debilitate, drain]

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb (-tated; -tating) Etymology: Latin debilitatus, past participle of debilitare to weaken, from debilis weak Date: 1533 to impair the strength of ; enfeeble Synonyms: see weaken • debilitation noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. enfeeble, enervate. Derivatives: debilitatingly adv. debilitation n. debilitative adj. Etymology: L debilitare (as DEBILITY)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Debilitate De*bil"i*tate, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Debilitated; p. pr. & vb. n. Debilitating.] [L. debilitatus, p. p. of debilitare to debilitate, fr. debilis. See Debility.] To impair the strength of; to weaken; to enfeeble; as, to debilitate the body by intemperance. Various ails debilitate the mind. --Jenyns. The debilitated frame of Mr. Bertram was exhausted by this last effort. --Sir W. Scott.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(debilitates, debilitating, debilitated) 1. If you are debilitated by something such as an illness, it causes your body or mind to become gradually weaker. (FORMAL) Stewart took over yesterday when Russell was debilitated by a stomach virus. VERB: usu passive, be V-ed by n • debilitating ...a debilitating illness. ADJ • debilitated Occasionally a patient is so debilitated that he must be fed intravenously. ADJ 2. To debilitate an organization, society, or government means to gradually make it weaker. (FORMAL) ...their efforts to debilitate the political will of the Western alliance. VERB: V n • debilitating ...years of debilitating economic crisis. ADJ • debilitated ...the debilitated ruling party. ADJ

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. Weaken, enervate, enfeeble, exhaust, prostrate, relax, render weak, make languid.

Moby Thesaurus

abate, afflict, attenuate, beat, blunt, bugger, burn out, cramp, cripple, damp, dampen, de-energize, deaden, derange, devitalize, disable, disenable, disorder, do in, do up, drain, dull, enervate, enfeeble, eviscerate, exhaust, extenuate, fag, fag out, fatigue, flag, frazzle, gruel, hamstring, harass, hors de combat, hospitalize, hurt, inactivate, incapacitate, indispose, invalid, jade, kibosh, knock out, knock up, lame, lay low, lay up, maim, mar, mitigate, overfatigue, overstrain, overtire, overweary, poop, poop out, prostrate, put, queer, queer the works, rattle, reduce, sabotage, sap, shake, shake up, sicken, soften up, spike, spoil, tire, tire out, tire to death, tucker, unbrace, undermine, unfit, unman, unnerve, unstrengthen, unstring, use up, weaken, wear, wear down, wear on, wear out, weary, wilt, wind, wing, wreck