Debilitate: meaning, example and synonyms
Debilitatev. To make someone or something weak and feeble.
Example
The prolonged drought debilitated the herd so severely that ranchers had to truck in feed to keep the weakened animals alive.
- Part of speech
- verb
- Synonyms
- weaken, enfeeble, sap, impair
- Antonyms
- strengthen, invigorate, fortify, energize
- Memory tip
- Latin debilis = weak (same root as 'debility').
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Check yourself: Debilitate in context
The parasite slowly ______ its host, draining so much energy that infected beetles could no longer fly in search of food.
Answer: debilitates. Draining a host's strength is what debilitates means. Vindicates (justifies), denounces (condemns) and instigates (provokes) don't describe physical weakening.
Years of civil war had so ______ the country's institutions that even basic services such as mail delivery had ceased in most provinces.
Answer: debilitated. Institutions too weak to deliver mail were debilitated. Vindicated (justified), denounced (condemned) and instigated (started) can't mean weakened.