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debilitate

UK/dɪˈbɪlɪteɪt/US/dəˈbɪləteɪt/
verbC1Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechneutral

Other forms: debilitating, debilitated

To debilitate is to weaken somebody badly. Debilitate an opponent.

It is used of illness and of systems, and always means lasting weakness rather than a knock. To debilitate is stronger than to tire and weaker than to destroy.

Definitions of debilitate

  1. 1verbdebilitateTo weaken somebody badly.C1

    “The illness debilitated him for the better part of a year.”

debilitate is an action.

Where it comes from

Latin debilitare, from debilis, weak, which is de plus a root meaning able, so literally un-able.

  1. Latin

    dēbilitō — to weaken, debilitate

  2. English, today

    debilitate

Built from

  • dēbilis · Latin — weak

From debilitatus, the past passive participle of Latin dēbilitō (“to weaken, debilitate”), from the adjective dēbilis (“weak”), itself from de- + habilis. Equivalent to dēbilitō + -ate.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

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