debility
English
Etymology
From Middle English debylite, from Old French debilité (French débilité), from Latin dēbilitās (“weakness”), from dēbilis (“weak”), from dē- + habilis (“able”).
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 159: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value UK is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /dɪˈbɪlɪti/
- Rhymes: -ɪlɪti
Noun
debility (countable and uncountable, plural debilities)
- A state of physical or mental weakness.
- 1818, Mary Shelley, Frankenstein.
- As I was in a state of extreme debility, I resolved to sail directly towards the town, as a place where I could most easily procure nourishment.
- […]
- I was ready to sink from fatigue and hunger, but being surrounded by a crowd, I thought it politic to rouse all my strength, that no physical debility might be construed into apprehension or conscious guilt.
- 1886, Robert Louis Stephenson, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde:
- I was struck besides with the shocking expression of his face, with his remarkable combination of great muscular activity and great apparent debility of constitution
- 1818, Mary Shelley, Frankenstein.
Related terms
Translations
state of weakness
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Further reading
- “debility”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “debility”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 4-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɪlɪti
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations