different between infirm vs valetudinarian

English

Etymology

From Middle English infirme, from Latin infirmus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n?f?m/
• Rhymes: -??(?)m

Adjective

infirm (comparative infirmer, superlative infirmest)

1. Weak or ill, not in good health.

   He was infirm of body but still keen of mind, and though it looked like he couldn't walk across the room, he crushed me in debate.

   • c. 1605, William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act III, Scene 2,^[1]

     […] Here I stand your slave,

     A poor, infirm, weak, and despis’d old man.

2. Irresolute; weak of mind or will.
   • c. 1605, William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act II, Scene 2,^[2]

     Infirm of purpose!

     Give me the daggers: […]

   • 1797, Edmund Burke, A Third Letter to a Member of the Present Parliament: On the Proposals for Peace with the Regicide Directory of France, London: F.&C. Rivington, p. 30,^[3]

     […] vehement passion does not always indicate an infirm judgment.

3. Frail; unstable; insecure.
   • 1667, Robert South, “The Practice of Religion Enforced by Reason” in Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, London: Thomas Bennet, p. 3,^[4]

     He who fixes upon false Principles, treads upon Infirm ground, and so sinks […]

Synonyms

• crank, ill, sick, unwell

Related terms

• infirmary

Translations

Verb

infirm (third-person singular simple present infirms, present participle infirming, simple past and past participle infirmed)

1. To contradict, to provide proof that something is not.

   The thought is that you see an episode of observation, experiment, or reasoning as confirming or infirming a hypothesis depending on whether your probability for it increases or decreases during the episode.

Synonyms

• disconfirm

Antonyms

• confirm

Derived terms

• infirmation

Translations

Anagrams

• Firmin

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /in?firm/

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French infirme, from Latin infirmus.

Adjective

infirm m or n (feminine singular infirm?, masculine plural infirmi, feminine and neuter plural infirme)

1. crippled

   Synonyms: invalid, schilod, beteag

Declension

Related terms

• infirmitate

Noun

infirm m (plural infirmi, feminine equivalent infirm?)

1. cripple, invalid

   Synonyms: invalid, schilod

Declension

Etymology 2

Inflected form of infirma (“to invalidate”).

Verb

infirm

1. inflection of infirma:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. first-person singular present subjunctive

English

Etymology

From Latin val?t?din?rius, from valetudo (“state of health, health, ill health”), from valere (“to be strong or well”) +? -an.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?væ.l??tu?.d??n?.?i.?n/
• (US)

Adjective

valetudinarian (comparative more valetudinarian, superlative most valetudinarian)

1. Sickly, infirm, of ailing health
   • 1910, Florence Anne Sellar MacCunn, Sir Walter Scott's Friends, p. 234

     The valetudinarian habit of discussing his health had grown on Rose...

   • 1841, Thomas Macaulay, Comic Dramatists of the Restoration (printed in Edinburgh Review, January 1841)

     The virtue which the world wants is a healthful virtue, not a valetudinarian virtue.

2. Being overly worried about one's health

Synonyms

• hypochondriac
• hypochondriacal
• valetudinary

Translations

Noun

valetudinarian (plural valetudinarians)

1. A person in poor health or sickly, especially one who is constantly obsessed with their state of health
   • 1787, Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, July 6, 1787 in The Works of Thomas Jefferson, Paul Leicester Ford (ed.), Vol. 5, pp. 300-01 (NY: 1904)

     The most uninformed mind, with a healthy body, is happier than the wisest valetudinarian.

   • 1815, Jane Austen, Emma, Vol. I, Ch. 1

     The evil of the actual disparity in their ages (and Mr. Woodhouse had not married early) was much increased by his constitution and habits; for having been a valetudinarian all his life, without activity of mind or body, he was a much older man in ways than in years; and though everywhere beloved for the friendliness of his heart and his amiable temper, his talents could not have recommended him at any time.

   • 1884, Dixon Kemp, A Manual of Yacht and Boat Sailing (4th Ed.)

     The cuisine, of course, would not be such as would raise water bubbles in the mouth of a valetudinarian; the carnivorous propensity will mostly be gratified by steak which, when cut, will resemble the Mudhook Yacht Club burgee of rouge et noir; and savory soups and luscious salmon will be luxuries only obtainable in "cannister" form.

   • 1950, Mervyn Peake, Gormenghast

     Are you a mere valetudinarian, my dear Ladyship, or some prolific mendicant whose bewitched offspring she hopes I can return to human shape?

   • 1985, Louis Auchincloss, Honorable Men

     She affected to be spunky about her ailments and afflictions, but she was in fact an utterly self-centered valetudinarian.

Synonyms

• valetudinary

Derived terms

• valetudinarianism

Translations

Synonyms

• hypochondriac

References

• valetudinarian in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.