Meanings
comparative more debilitating · superlative most debilitating
- Causing a loss of energy or strength.
All of which is to say – my OCD is back. For those of you who have not had the displeasure, OCD stands for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and it is an absolute arseache. Again, at best. Utterly debilitating and life-ruining at worst.
2025 October 20, Lucy Mangan, “My OCD is back. It's exhausting and awful, but this time I'm ready”, in The i Paper, archived from the original on 03 Nov 20251 more example
Akeley, Noyes hastened to inform me, was glad and ready to see me; although his sudden attack of asthma would prevent him from being a very competent host for a day or two. These spells hit him hard when they came, and were always accompanied by a debilitating fever and general weakness.
1931, H.P. Lovecraft, The Whisperer in Darkness
- gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of debilitate
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveimpairing the strength and vitality
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Finnish heikentävä, lamauttava
- heikentäväcausing a loss of energy or strength
- lamauttavacausing a loss of energy or strength
- uuvuttavacausing a loss of energy or strength
- voimia kuluttavacausing a loss of energy or strength
French débilitant, handicapant
- débilitantcausing a loss of energy or strength
- handicapantcausing a loss of energy or strength
German schwächend, zehrend
- schwächendcausing a loss of energy or strength
- zehrendcausing a loss of energy or strength
- kräftezehrendcausing a loss of energy or strength
- belastendcausing a loss of energy or strength
- lähmendcausing a loss of energy or strength
- hemmendcausing a loss of energy or strength
Polish osłabiający
- osłabiającycausing a loss of energy or strength
Turkish sakatlayıcı
- sakatlayıcıcausing a loss of energy or strength
Cite this entry
debilitating. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/debilitating
“debilitating.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/debilitating. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “debilitating,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/debilitating.
Source: debilitating on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.