debilitate
Americanverb (used with object)
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debilitates,
present (3rd person singular)
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debilitated,
past participle, past
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debilitating
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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debilitantnoun
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debilitationnoun
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overdebilitateverb (used with object)
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debilitativeadjective
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nondebilitatingadjective
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nondebilitativeadjective
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undebilitatedadjective
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undebilitatingadjective
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undebilitativeadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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debilitatesimple
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debilitatessimple
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have debilitatedperfect
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has debilitatedperfect
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am debilitatingprogressive
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are debilitatingprogressive
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is debilitatingprogressive
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have been debilitatingperfect progressive
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has been debilitatingperfect progressive
Past
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debilitatedsimple
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had debilitatedperfect
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was debilitatingprogressive
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were debilitatingprogressive
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had been debilitatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of debilitate
First recorded in 1525–35; from Latin dēbilitātus (past participle of dēbilitāre ), equivalent to dēbilit-, stem of dēbilis “weak” + -ātus -ate 1
Explanation
To debilitate something is to make it weaker. A bad flu may debilitate your powers of concentration, like the New Year's resolutions that temporarily debilitate bakeries' business. The verb debilitate traces back to the Latin word debilis, meaning “lame, disabled, crippled.” It’s often used to describe what disability or illness does to a person's health, but it can describe anything that has been weakened, like the sense of community that is slowly debilitated by people working longer hours and the lack of sidewalks that in many towns make it harder to walk around and meet the neighbors.
Vocabulary lists containing debilitate
100 SAT Words Beginning with "D"
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"Flag" Day Words
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UCPS 6th Grade Roots List #3
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Both brothers died of Hungtington’s disease, a genetic disorder that began to severely debilitate them during their 30s.
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2025
Extreme and lengthy heat can debilitate bodies; some of the far-reaching effects of extreme heat are already taxing countries in much of the world.
From New York Times ● Jan. 6, 2023
“Symptoms such as persistent fatigue, breathlessness, brain fog and depression could debilitate many millions of people globally.”
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 27, 2021
It is a necessary path forward in thinking about how to manage emerging technologies so they support and uplift, rather than dehumanize and debilitate, our society.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 18, 2021
He needed to be better about that, about letting the nightmares debilitate him.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
Ultimately, the goal is to identify potential genetic targets to treat or even cure the chronic metabolic disease that affects and sometimes debilitates more than 400 million adults worldwide, according to the International Diabetes Federation.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 19, 2024
The more the gestation progresses, the more her mind debilitates.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 9, 2023
For this Global Reach Challenge, Sir Ranulph will have to overcome vertigo and Cheyne-Stokes, a condition which debilitates his breathing above 16,000 feet.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2016
It debilitates me to think that my actions have caused her emotional and physical stress that is completely unwarranted and unfair.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 7, 2016
Over-abundance debilitates and retards progress; this has been proved again and again by my collaborators.
From Spontaneous Activity in Education by Maria Montessori
It has effectively debilitated us from being able to enforce it in most contexts we’ve used it in in the past.
From Slate ● Apr. 30, 2026
Too much of it, alas, is spent recalling now dead or sadly debilitated family and friends.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026
In the meantime, she was becoming more debilitated.
From BBC ● Dec. 27, 2025
The abrupt cessation of care prompted my debilitated mom’s eviction from an assisted living facility.
From Salon ● Jun. 6, 2025
And the other four Sherpas on our team were too cold and debilitated from having gone to the summit.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
"We believe vaccination has the potential to provide an important new layer of protection against this debilitating disease," Pfizer's chief vaccines officer, Annaliesa Anderson, said in a joint statement.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
He revealed that the "cancer has spread, metastasised into his bones and further. It's very painful" and "very debilitating".
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
Together we addressed my combination of crippling anxiety, debilitating fear and crushingly low self-image.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
Recess is one of the simplest, lowest-cost ways to help children build habits that reduce lifelong risk of expensive, debilitating chronic illness.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
Virgil wished he’d never learned that, because now he was convinced that Gulliver suffered from debilitating depression.
From "Hello, Universe" by Erin Entrada Kelly
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
