All words

debilitate

Meaning

To make someone or something physically or mentally feeble.

Examples by difficulty

Basic: Simple, everyday vocabulary — the easiest to read.

The long sickness started to debilitate her. She could barely stand or think clearly, her energy completely gone. Every day felt harder, making her feel so weak and tired.

The constant fear began to debilitate him, draining his strength until he could barely stand. Each waking moment was a struggle against the creeping weakness, a slow undoing that left him hollow and unable to move.

The persistent hum of the anti-grav unit began to debilitate Elara's focus. Each low thrum vibrated through her bones, making her limbs heavy and her thoughts cloudy. She worried the constant noise would soon make her too weak to operate the vital atmospheric controls.

My pet hamster, Sir Reginald Fluffernutter, ate a whole bag of potato chips. Now he can barely move. The grease and salt just debilitate him. He just lies there, a furry, salty blob, dreaming of more chips.

The rogue flock of glitter-sneezing pigeons, a truly bizarre nuisance, began to debilitate the local pretzel-molding robot. It sputtered, its dough-delivery arm drooped, and its once-jaunty antenna wilted, rendering it unable to sculpt its usual pretzel masterpieces.

Normal: Standard, everyday language.

The constant lack of sleep began to debilitate him, making it harder to concentrate at work and even to enjoy his weekends. He felt his energy drain away, leaving him weak and exhausted.

The persistent, low hum of the alien artifact began to debilitate the crew. Sleep offered no respite, their minds growing foggy and their movements sluggish. Each day felt harder than the last, their once sharp focus dulled by the unseen pressure.

The relentless hum of the alien spores began to debilitate the research team. Sleep became impossible, focus fragmented into anxious whispers. Soon, their limbs felt heavy, their thoughts sluggish, as the strange infestation slowly weakened their minds and bodies.

The sheer amount of glitter exploded from the craft store shelf threatened to debilitate my will to live. Soon, my apartment would be a shimmering, sparkly wasteland, and I'd be too weak to even reach the remote.

My uncle's attempt to knit a sweater for his prize-winning pet rock was a disaster. The sheer absurdity of the tiny, yarn-wrapped stones began to debilitate his grasp on reality, leaving him mumbling about pebble fashion trends and the existential dread of a poorly stitched sleeve.

Advanced: Richer vocabulary that stretches an upper-level reader.

The constant worry and lack of sleep began to debilitate him, making even simple tasks feel impossible. He felt his strength drain away, his mind foggy and his body heavy, leaving him utterly spent.

The relentless humidity began to debilitate the botanist. Days of sweltering heat without a breeze made every step a struggle, sapping her energy and blurring her focus as she tried to catalog the rare orchids.

The prolonged drought began to debilitate the arid scrubland. Weeks without rain left the native flora brittle, their resilience eroded until even a slight breeze could snap a branch. The once vibrant ecosystem was reduced to a shadow of its former self, struggling to survive.

The sheer volume of unsolicited cat videos, a digital deluge, threatened to debilitate my already precarious grip on productivity. Each adorable tumble and goofy meow chipped away at my focus, leaving me feeling mentally feeble, a mere shell of my former efficient self, ready to succumb to the siren song of feline antics.

The relentless polka music emanating from Mrs. Higgins' prize-winning accordion collection threatened to debilitate even the most stout-hearted of us. The incessant oom-pah-pah, a sonic assault on the very essence of sanity, left our nerves frayed and our spirits utterly crushed.

Challenging: Rare, high-register vocabulary for serious word lovers.

The relentless famine threatened to debilitate the populace, their gaunt frames and hollow eyes a testament to the encroaching weakness. Each dawn brought only a further erosion of their strength, a gnawing exhaustion that promised to extinguish their very spirit.

The ceaseless, microscopic vibrations of the alien artifact began to debilitate Elias’s senses, his once keen mind now struggling to process simple stimuli. A profound lethargy settled in, making even the simplest movements an arduous undertaking, a stark contrast to his former vigor.

The chronic malnutrition began to debilitate him, his once robust frame wasting away. A gnawing hunger, persistent and profound, eroded his spirit, leaving him too weak to even lift his meager rations.

My uncle Bartholomew’s penchant for consuming egregious quantities of artisanal cheese began to truly debilitate him, reducing his once robust physique to a flaccid, whey-colored silhouette. He'd wheeze like a punctured zeppelin and, frankly, smelled faintly of regret and Gorgonzola.

The relentless drizzle, a veritable celestial periwinkle inundation, threatened to debilitate the assembled curmudgeons. Their stoic visages, typically as unyielding as petrified Precambrian gneiss, began to sag, their collective ardor for artisanal badger-whistle collecting waning with each sodden gust.

Difficulty

Normal — Everyday words worth reinforcing.

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