different between debility vs debilitate

English

Etymology

From Middle English debylite, from Old French debilité (French débilité), from Latin d?bilit?s (“weakness”), from d?bilis (“weak”), from d?- + habilis (“able”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d??b?l?ti/
• Rhymes: -?l?ti

Noun

debility (countable and uncountable, plural debilities)

1. A state of physical or mental weakness.
   • 1818, Mary Shelley, Frankenstein.

     As I was in a state of extreme debility, I resolved to sail directly towards the town, as a place where I could most easily procure nourishment.

     […]

     I was ready to sink from fatigue and hunger, but being surrounded by a crowd, I thought it politic to rouse all my strength, that no physical debility might be construed into apprehension or conscious guilt.

Related terms

• debile
• debilitate
• debilitation

Translations

Further reading

• debility in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• debility in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

English

Etymology

Latin debilitatus, past participle of debilitare (“to weaken, debilitate”), from the adjective debilis (“weak”), from de- + habilis (“able”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d??b?l?te?t/
• (US) IPA^(key): /d??b?l?te?t/

Verb

debilitate (third-person singular simple present debilitates, present participle debilitating, simple past and past participle debilitated)

1. (transitive) To make feeble; to weaken.

   The American Dream suffered a debilitating effect after the subprime crisis.

   Synonyms: enervate, enfeeble, weaken

Related terms

• debile
• debility
• debilitation
• debilitating

Translations

See also

• enervate

Further reading

• debilitate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• debilitate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Interlingua

Noun

debilitate (plural debilitates)

1. weakness

Italian

Verb

debilitate

1. second-person plural present indicative of debilitare
2. second-person plural imperative of debilitare
3. feminine plural of debilitato

Latin

Verb

d?bilit?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of d?bilit?

Romanian

Etymology

From French débilité

Noun

debilitate f (plural debilit??i)

1. debility

Declension