debilitate
[dih-bil-i-teyt]
- to make weak or feeble; enfeeble: The siege of pneumonia debilitated her completely.
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Origin of debilitate
1525–35; < Latin dēbilitātus (past participle of dēbilitāre), equivalent to dēbilit-, stem of dēbilis weak + -ātus -ate1
Synonyms
See more synonyms for debilitate on Thesaurus.comweaken, deplete, enervate, devitalize.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for debilitate
Contemporary Examples
Infernal, it can cause fires and explosions; toxic, it can debilitate, poison, and kill.
Historical Examples
I will not debilitate the cook; I will not exhaust the fowl-yard.
No Defense, CompleteGilbert Parker
He was one of those whom books cannot debilitate, nor a life of study incapacitate for the study of life.
On the SublimeLonginus
Taking hot food or drink, habitually, tends to debilitate all the organs thus needlessly excited.
A Treatise on Domestic EconomyCatherine Esther Beecher
Many suppose that a warm bath exposes a person more readily to take cold; and that it tends to debilitate the system.
A Treatise on Domestic EconomyCatherine Esther Beecher
This is to prevent the free escape of water, which might debilitate the starch-making cells.
Trees Worth KnowingJulia Ellen Rogers
debilitate
- (tr) to make feeble; weaken
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Word Origin
C16: from Latin dēbilitāre, from dēbilis weak
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for debilitate
v.
1530s, from Latin debilitatus, past participle of debilitare "to weaken," from debilis "weak" (see debility). Related: Debilitated; debilitating.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper