Skip to main content
debilitating

debilitating

33 7.5
Causing serious weakness that stops normal daily activities
  • adjective
  • /dɪˈbɪlɪˌteɪtɪŋ/
translation icon : debilitante
  • The chronic pain from her illness was debilitating, preventing her from performing daily tasks.
  • debilitating effects
  • debilitating disease
  • chronic and debilitating

And I can't think of a more debilitating emotional state than feeling lost.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • And that people just need to accept that they can have serious, debilitating, lifelong mental disorders.

  • Ooh, the loss of motor skills is rather debilitating.

  • And it has been really debilitating on my physical health.

  • A highly effective and debilitating drug.

  • This is probably like a very debilitating illness.

  • This can be so debilitating for some people but may improve with a lower dose.

  • I heard you say in a wonderful talk that you gave that depression is perhaps the most debilitating condition worldwide.

  • My next guest, Marissa, says she has suffered from debilitating panic attacks for several years.

  • He suffers from debilitating mental illness.

  • For most of his adult life, he had endured debilitating illnesses.

    Academic text (2008)

Synonyms

crippling
vsdebilitating
8 5.8

Causing very serious harm that makes a person, thing, or plan stop working

produces weakness and low energy rather than direct structural damage
incapacitating
vsdebilitating
1 7.0

Causing a person to be unable to move or work

causes weakness that may not fully stop functioning
debilitative
vsdebilitating
9.1

Causing a loss of strength and energy so a person cannot do normal activities

is the same idea but stresses interference with normal activities
disabling
vsdebilitating
5.6

Making a person unable to do everyday things because of injury or illness

focuses on loss of strength and energy rather than task inability
to paralyzing
vsdebilitating
  • US
5.1

Make people or things stop working

reduces strength and energy without always stopping all function

Antonyms

9 4.4

Making you feel more energetic and alive

How Debilitating

crippling
8 5.8
disabling
5.6
debilitating
33 7.5
weakening
3.7

Surface Forms

debilitating positive
debilitatinger comparative
debilitatingest superlative

Morphology

debilitating = debilitate (transparent) = debilitate + ing

Standard adjectival use of the present-participle '-ing' on the verb 'debilitate' yields the meaning 'causing weakness', which is directly predictable.

Etymology

Debilitating comes from the Latin debilis, meaning 'weak', and the prefix de-, meaning 'down' or 'away'. Think of it with the familiar word able: debilitating is like 'making less able', so it describes something that causes great weakness and stops you doing normal activities.