enervate

[verb en-er-veyt; adjective ih-nur-vit]

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verb (used with object), en·er·vat·ed, en·er·vat·ing.

to deprive of force or strength; destroy the vigor of; weaken.

adjective

Origin of enervate

1595–1605; < Latin ēnervātus weakened (past participle of ēnervāre) equivalent to ē- e-¹ + nerv(us) sinew (see nerve) + -ātus -ate¹; compare Anglo-French enervir, French énerver

Related formsen·er·va·tion, nounen·er·va·tive, adjectiveen·er·va·tor, nounnon·en·er·vat·ing, adjective

Can be confusedenergize enervate innervate invigorate

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for enervation

debility, attenuation, enfeeblement, feebleness, weakness, depletion, frailty, exhaustion

Examples from the Web for enervation

Historical Examples of enervation

There was therefore not only a denaturation, but an enervation of our poetry.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 57, No. 353, March 1845
Various
Nothing but harass, enervation, lassitude, deafening clamor.
His Excellency the Minister
Jules Claretie
And from this time his enervation was steadily on the increase.
The Campaign of Chancellorsville
Theodore A. Dodge
The soirée at Sabine Marsy's had caused Vaudrey to feel something like the enervation that follows intoxication.
His Excellency the Minister
Jules Claretie
All this time the heavy sobbing of Felicien was heard, as upon the landing-place he wept in the enervation of hope.
The Dream
Emile Zola

British Dictionary definitions for enervation

enervate

verb (ˈɛnəˌveɪt)

(tr) to deprive of strength or vitality; weaken physically or mentally; debilitate

adjective (ɪˈnɜːvɪt)

deprived of strength or vitality; weakened

Derived Formsenervation, nounenervative, adjectiveenervator, noun

Word Origin for enervate

C17: from Latin ēnervāre to remove the nerves from, from nervus nerve, sinew

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for enervation

early 15c., from Middle French énervation, from Late Latin enervationem (nominative enervatio), noun of action from past participle stem of Latin enervare "weaken," literally "cut the sinews of," from ex- "out" (see ex-) + nervus "sinew" (see nerve). Figurative sense is from 1550s.

enervate

c.1600, from Latin enervatus, past participle of enervare "to weaken" (see enervation). Related: Ennervated; ennervating.

enervation in Medicine

enervate

[ĕn′ər-vāt′]

v.

To remove a nerve or nerve part.

To cause weakness or a reduction of strength.

Related formsen′er•va′tion n.