debilitate

English

Etymology

Latin debilitatus, past participle of debilitare (“to weaken, debilitate”), from the adjective debilis (“weak”), from de- + habilis (“able”).

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /dɪˈbɪlɪteɪt/
  • (US) IPA(key): /dəˈbɪləteɪt/

Verb

debilitate (third-person singular simple present debilitates, present participle debilitating, simple past and past participle debilitated)

  1. (transitive) To make feeble; to weaken.
    The American Dream suffered a debilitating effect after the subprime crisis.
    • 2015 March 12, Daniel Taylor, “Chelsea out of Champions League after Thiago Silva sends 10-man PSG through on away goals”, in The Guardian (London)‎:
      Twice, they found themselves behind, seemingly on their way out, and on both occasions they absolutely refused to let their lack of numbers debilitate them.

Synonyms

Translations

See also

Further reading

  • debilitate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  • debilitate in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Interlingua

Noun

debilitate (plural debilitates)

  1. weakness

Italian

Verb

debilitate

  1. second-person plural present indicative of debilitare
  2. second-person plural imperative of debilitare
  3. feminine plural of debilitato

Latin

Verb

dēbilitāte

  1. second-person plural present active imperative of dēbilitō
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