Meanings
present singular third person debilitates · participle present debilitating · participle past debilitated · past debilitated
- transitiveTo make feeble; to weaken.
The American Dream suffered a debilitating effect after the subprime crisis.
2 more examples
The personal desire to forget is one thing, if practiced by historians it debilitates history.
1986 February 15, Denis M. Sweet, “A Sobering History from Weimar to the Ovens”, in Gay Community News, volume 14, number 39, page B3Twice, they found themselves behind, seemingly on their way out, and on both occasions they absolutely refused to let their lack of numbers debilitate them.
2015 March 12, Daniel Taylor, “Chelsea out of Champions League after Thiago Silva sends 10-man PSG through on away goals”, in The Guardian (London)
comparative more debilitate · superlative most debilitate
- obsoleteFeeble, enfeebled.
It is powerfull in helping extenuat and leane perſons who are troubled with difficultie of drawing their Brath: gives vigour and ſtrength to vithered and debilitat members; […]
1618, Patri[c]k Anderson, The Colde Spring of Kinghorne Craig […], Edinburgh: Thomas Finlason, unnumbered page
Synonyms & antonyms
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latindēbilitō“to weaken, debilitate”
- Englishdebilitate
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).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian отслабвам, омаломощавам
- отслабвам (otslabvam)to make feeble; to weaken
- омаломощавам (omalomoštavam)to make feeble; to weaken
Chinese Mandarin 使虛弱 /使虚弱, 削弱
- 使虛弱 /使虚弱 (shǐ xūruò)to make feeble; to weaken
- 削弱 (xuēruò)to make feeble; to weaken
- 使衰弱 (shǐ shuāiruò)to make feeble; to weaken
Czech oslabit
- oslabitto make feeble; to weaken
Dutch verzwakken
- verzwakkento make feeble; to weaken
Finnish heikentää
- heikentääto make feeble; to weaken
French débiliter
- débiliterto make feeble; to weaken
German an den Kräften zehren, schwächen
- an den Kräften zehrento make feeble; to weaken
- schwächento make feeble; to weaken
- entkräftento make feeble; to weaken
Greek αποχαυνώνω
- αποχαυνώνω (apochavnóno)to make feeble; to weaken
Icelandic veikja
- veikjato make feeble; to weaken
Japanese 弱化する
- 弱化する (jakka suru)to make feeble; to weaken
Latin debilito
- debilitoto make feeble; to weaken
Māori whakangoikore
- whakangoikoreto make feeble; to weaken
Norwegian Bokmål svekke, svekkes
- svekketo make feeble; to weaken
- svekkesto make feeble; to weaken
Polish osłabiać, osłabić
- osłabiaćto make feeble; to weaken
- osłabićto make feeble; to weaken
Russian ослабля́ть
- ослабля́ть (oslabljátʹ)to make feeble; to weaken
Scottish Gaelic lagaich
- lagaichto make feeble; to weaken
Spanish debilitar
- debilitarto make feeble; to weaken
Cite this entry
debilitate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/debilitate
“debilitate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/debilitate. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “debilitate,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/debilitate.
Source: debilitate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.