Meanings
present singular third person enervates · participle present enervating · participle past enervated · past enervated
- transitiveTo reduce strength or energy; debilitate.
After being laid off three times in a row, she felt too enervated to look for another job.
Synonyms: debilitate, weaken, enfeeble
comparative more enervate · superlative most enervate
- Made feeble; weakened.
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo reduce strength or energy; debilitate.
verbTo partially or completely remove a nerve.
antonym(s) of “reduce strength”
antonym(s) of “reduce morally, mentally”
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinēnervātus
- Englishenervate
From Latin ēnervātus, past participle of ēnervō (“to weaken”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian обезсилвам, омаломощавам
- обезсилвам (obezsilvam)to reduce strength or energy
- омаломощавам (omalomoštavam)to reduce strength or energy
Czech vyčerpat, zeslabit
- vyčerpatto reduce strength or energy
- zeslabitto reduce strength or energy
- zeslabitto weaken morally or mentally
Danish svække
- svækketo reduce strength or energy
Dutch verzwakken
- verzwakkento reduce strength or energy
Finnish heikentää
- heikentääto reduce strength or energy
French affaiblir
- affaiblirto reduce strength or energy
German schwächen
- schwächento reduce strength or energy
Greek αποχαυνώνω
- αποχαυνώνω (apochavnóno)to reduce strength or energy
Māori whakaruhi
- whakaruhito reduce strength or energy
Portuguese debilitar, enfraquecer
- debilitarto reduce strength or energy
- enfraquecerto reduce strength or energy
Russian обесси́ливать, обесси́лить
- обесси́ливать (obessílivatʹ)to reduce strength or energy
- обесси́лить (obessílitʹ)to reduce strength or energy
Spanish enervar, enervar
- enervarto reduce strength or energy
- enervarto weaken morally or mentally
Swedish försvaga
- försvagato reduce strength or energy
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
enervate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/enervate
“enervate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/enervate. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “enervate,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/enervate.
Source: enervate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.