DEBILITATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does debilitate mean? 

• DEBILITATE (verb)
  The verb DEBILITATE has 1 sense:

1. make weak

  Familiarity information: DEBILITATE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DEBILITATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they debilitate    ... he / she / it debilitates   
Past simple: debilitated   
Past participle: debilitated   
-ing form: debilitating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make weak

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

debilitate; drain; enfeeble

Context example:

Life in the camp drained him

Hypernyms (to "debilitate" is one way to...):

weaken (lessen the strength of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "debilitate"):

emaciate; macerate; waste (cause to grow thin or weak)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

debilitation (serious weakening and loss of energy)

debilitative (causing debilitation)

debility (the state of being weak in health or body (especially from old age))

 Context examples 

Researchers have developed a blood test that can detect signs of Alzheimer’s as much as 20 years before the disease begins to have a debilitating effect.

(New Alzheimer’s Blood Test Could Detect Signs of Symptoms Decades Earlier, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The effects insomnia has on a person's health can be debilitating and place a strain on the healthcare system.

(Can't Sleep? Could Be Down to Genetics, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Debilitating long-term neurological problems or even death may occur.

(Tick salivary glands can be a tool to study virus transmission and infection, National Institutes of Health)

A debilitating tiredness or total lack of energy, often reported as the most common symptom in individuals with cancer.

(Cancer Fatigue, NCI Thesaurus)

Semisynthetic, broad-spectrum antibacterial derived from CEPHALORIDINE and used especially for Pseudomonas and other gram-negative infections in debilitated patients.

(Ceftazidime Sodium, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

Researchers believe that stuttering — a potentially lifelong and debilitating speech disorder — stems from problems with the circuits in the brain that control speech, but precisely how and where these problems occur is unknown.

(Study in mice identifies type of brain cell involved in stuttering, National Institutes of Health)

A severe gangrenous process occurring predominantly in debilitated and malnourished children, especially in underdeveloped countries.

(Gangrenous Stomatitis, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

The WHO says debilitating problems associated with air pollution begin at conception and continue until adolescence.

(WAir Pollution a Health Risk for Children, Lisa Schlein/VOA)

Researchers at King's College London have discovered new mechanisms of cell death, which may be involved in debilitating neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.

(New Mechanisms Found of Cell Death in Neurodegenerative Disorders, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

He turned on hearing a noise, and perceiving me, shrieked loudly, and quitting the hut, ran across the fields with a speed of which his debilitated form hardly appeared capable.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)