- present participle of debilitate.
debilitating
Britishadjective
Explanation
Something that's debilitating seriously affects someone or something's strength or ability to carry on with regular activities, like a debilitating illness. Debilitating comes from the Latin word debilis, meaning "weak." That's why you'll often see the adjective used to describe illness. After all, serious diseases weaken the body. Other things that can be debilitating are those that can stop you from reaching a goal, like a debilitating snow storm that forces you to stay home, or debilitating shyness that keeps you from reaching out to the people you want to meet.
Vocabulary lists containing debilitating
This Week in Words: February 5 - 9, 2018
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Feeling Faint: Synonyms for "Weak"
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Scythe
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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.
As part of her initial treatment, the BBC News chief presenter underwent several "debilitating" hour-long sessions of venesections.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026
Mr. Boorman managed to injure himself gravely by whipping up dust storms on the Warner Bros. lot; fungal spores got into his lungs and he contracted a rare, sometimes debilitating disease called Valley Fever.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
He continues to live with memory loss, chronic pain and debilitating headaches.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026
"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
Islam became a part of her life after the unexpected death of her oldest son, and religion became the only way she coped with the debilitating grief.
From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi
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.
