enfeeble

[en-fee-buhl]

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verb (used with object), en·fee·bled, en·fee·bling.

to make feeble; weaken: That bout of pneumonia enfeebled him.

Origin of enfeeble

1300–50; Middle English enfeblen < Old French enfeblir. See en-¹, feeble

Related formsen·fee·ble·ment, nounen·fee·bler, nounun·en·fee·bled, adjective

Synonyms for enfeeble

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enervate, debilitate.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for enfeeble

exhaust, debilitate, unnerve, incapacitate, attenuate, cripple, devitalize, disable, fatigue, deplete, diminish, sap, blunt, unhinge, undermine, weaken

Examples from the Web for enfeeble

Historical Examples of enfeeble

Nothing could enfeeble that, it seemed heroic, and covered all other laches.
Pickwickian Studies
Percy Fitzgerald
Usually they enfeeble the sympathies, and often overlie and smother them.
Imaginary Conversations and Poems
Walter Savage Landor
There is no money in the treasury, and so they enfeeble her instead of strengthening.
The Innocents Abroad
Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
There, no petty circle of society can fetter the energies or enfeeble the endeavors.
Confession
W. Gilmore Simms
But in poverty there is also a tendency to intimidate, to enfeeble, to benumb.
Speeches, Addresses, and Occasional Sermons, Volume 1 (of 3)
Theodore Parker

British Dictionary definitions for enfeeble

enfeeble

verb

(tr) to make weak; deprive of strength

Derived Formsenfeeblement, nounenfeebler, noun

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 enfeeble

mid-14c., from Old French enfeblir "become weak," from en- (see en- (1)) + feble (see feeble). Related: Enfeebled; enfeebling.