to enervate

Examples

• All

• Other observers characterized city life itself as an enervating influence and a threat to masculinity.

  Academic text (1996)

• But I find the point of view enervating.

  Academic text (2007)

• Now, this habit of reposing in the sun of a brilliant future is very enervating.

  Academic text (2014)

• The tropical heat made physical labor difficult, and life in the tropics before air-conditioning was enervating.

  Academic text (1992)

• After seventeen years of an enervating civil war, the country's major institutions and infrastructure are in massive disrepair.

  Academic text (1998)

• Sickness, despair, and July's enervating heat showed on all their faces as they stared disinterestedly at her.

  Fiction book (1994)

• Frances slows from the midday heat, the altitude, the enervating whiteness of the sun.

  Fiction book (1994)

• The hot sun and humidity can really enervate anyone who spends too much time outdoors.

• Long hours of studying without breaks can enervate a student's enthusiasm for learning.

Synonyms

E

to exhaust

vsto enervate

194 3.2

To make someone very tired

often implies broader moral or character weakening rather than only tiredness

D

to demoralize

vsto enervate

33 6.1

To make someone lose confidence or hope

highlights loss of energy and vitality more than just morale drop

T

to tire

vsto enervate

23 1.0

To become very tired or make someone very tired

is stronger, often implying loss of vigor and moral energy

T

to tucker

vsto enervate

• Informal

8 9.4

To make someone very tired

is more formal and stresses draining vitality beyond colloquial tiredness

D

to deaden

vsto enervate

3 5.5

To make a feeling, sound, or pain less strong

focuses more on weakening people rather than numbing sensations

D

to dampen spirits

vsto enervate

2 4.9

Make someone feel less happy and excited

is more severe, implying lasting loss of vitality or moral strength

S

to stultify

vsto enervate

• Formal

1 9.8

Make someone or something lose energy and stop working well

emphasizes moral weakening and feeling drained rather than uselessness

D

to dispirit

vsto enervate

1 7.6

To make someone lose hope or confidence

is stronger, often causing deep mental or moral weakening

E

to exsanguinate

vsto enervate

1 9.9

To make something weak by taking away what it needs

is less violent, focusing on gradual moral or energy depletion

D

to devitalize

vsto enervate

8.1

To make a place or group less lively and energetic

focuses more on weakening moral or mental strength than simple energy loss

L

to leach energy

vsto enervate

• UK

7.4

To slowly take away energy and interest from people

is more sudden or direct in causing a deep sense of weakness

Antonyms

E

to energize

• US

65 3.7

To make someone feel more active and alert

I

to invigorate

26 5.5

To give more energy and make someone or something feel lively

How Draining

to exhaust

194 3.2

to debilitate

20 7.7

to enervate

• Formal

2 9.0

to tire

23 1.0

to weaken

305 2.8

Surface Forms

Etymology