debilitate
UK /dɪˈbɪlɪteɪt/ · US /dəˈbɪləteɪt/ verb, adjective
Forms debilitates debilitating debilitated
- verb (transitive) To make feeble; to weaken. “The American Dream suffered a debilitating effect after the subprime crisis.”
- adjective (obsolete) Feeble, enfeebled.
Synonyms
Etymology
From debilitatus, the past passive participle of Latin dēbilitō (“to weaken, debilitate”), from the adjective dēbilis (“weak”), itself from de- + habilis (“able”). Equivalent to Latin dēbilitō + -ate (verb-forming suffix; adjective-forming suffix).
Webster’s 1913
Etymology [L. debilitatus, p. p. of debilitare to debilitate, fr. debilis. See Debility.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “debilitate”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details