Adjacent Words

Debility definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DEBIL'ITY, n. Relaxation of the solids; weakness; feebleness; languor of body; faintness; imbecility; as, morbid sweats induce debility.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the state of being weak in health or body (especially from old age) [syn: infirmity, frailty, debility, feebleness, frailness, valetudinarianism]

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural -ties) Etymology: Middle English debilite, from Middle French debilité, from Latin debilitat-, debilitas, from debilis, from de- de- + -bilis; akin to Sanskrit bala strength Date: 15th century weakness, infirmity

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. feebleness, esp. of health. Etymology: ME f. OF debilité f. L debilitas -tatis f. debilis weak

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Debility De*bil"i*ty, n. [L. debilitas, fr. debilis weak, prob. fr. de- + habilis able: cf. F. d['e]bilit['e]. See Able, a.] The state of being weak; weakness; feebleness; languor. The inconveniences of too strong a perspiration, which are debility, faintness, and sometimes sudden death. --Arbuthnot. Syn: Debility, Infirmity, Imbecility. Usage: An infirmity belongs, for the most part, to particular members, and is often temporary, as of the eyes, etc. Debility is more general, and while it lasts impairs the ordinary functions of nature. Imbecility attaches to the whole frame, and renders it more or less powerless. Debility may be constitutional or may be the result or superinduced causes; Imbecility is always constitutional; infirmity is accidental, and results from sickness or a decay of the frame. These words, in their figurative uses, have the same distinctions; we speak of infirmity of will, debility of body, and an Imbecility which affects the whole man; but Imbecility is often used with specific reference to feebleness of mind.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(debilities) Debility is a weakness of a person's body or mind, especially one caused by an illness. (FORMAL) ...exhaustion or post-viral debility. = infirmity N-VAR

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Weakness, feebleness, languor, prostration, exhaustion, enervation, imbecility, infirmity, frailty, loss of strength.

Moby Thesaurus

advanced age, advanced years, adynamia, age of retirement, an incurable disease, anemia, anility, atony, blah feeling, bloodlessness, brain fag, cachexia, cachexy, caducity, chronic ill health, cowardice, debilitation, decline of life, declining years, decrepitude, delicacy, delicate health, disease, dotage, dullness, eld, elderliness, enervation, enfeeblement, etiolation, exhaustion, eyestrain, faintness, fatigue, feebleness, flabbiness, flaccidity, fragility, frailty, goneness, green old age, hale old age, healthlessness, heart strain, hoary age, hypochondria, hypochondriasis, ill health, impotence, infirm old age, infirmity, infirmity of age, invalidism, invalidity, jadedness, languishing, languishment, languor, lassitude, listlessness, longevity, malaise, mental fatigue, mental strain, morbidity, morbidness, old age, oldness, overstrain, overtiredness, peakedness, pensionable age, poor health, prostration, ricketiness, ripe old age, second childhood, senectitude, senility, senior citizenship, sickliness, sleepiness, sluggishness, softness, stance fatigue, strain, strengthlessness, superannuation, the downward slope, the golden years, tiredness, unhealthiness, unsoundness, unwholesomeness, vale of years, valetudinarianism, wasting, weakliness, weakness, wearifulness, weariness, white hairs