Definition

Adjective 1. Causing weakness or debilitation: Describes something that makes a person, system, or thing weaker, less effective, or less vigorous. It implies a gradual or ongoing process of sapping strength or vitality.

Usage

The adjective "enfeebling" is used to describe the effect or nature of an action, condition, or influence. It is often applied to abstract concepts like policies, diseases, or psychological states that have a weakening impact. * It typically modifies nouns like effect, disease, influence, policy, or process. * It can be used in both literal (physical) and figurative (mental, economic, political) contexts.

Examples

• The patient suffered from an enfeebling illness that left her bedridden for months.
• The country's economy was strangled by a series of enfeebling regulations.
• Constant self-doubt can have an enfeebling effect on one's ambition.
• The enfeebling heat of the desert made progress nearly impossible.

Advanced Usage

• Enfeebling can be used in a causative sense within descriptive phrases, highlighting the agent of weakness.
  • The enfeebling grip of poverty affects generations.
• In formal or literary analysis, it can describe the deteriorating effect of time or circumstance.
  • The novel explores the enfeebling passage of time on human relationships.

Variants and Related Words

• Enfeeble (verb): To make weak or feeble.
  • The long drought will enfeeble the agricultural sector.
• Enfeebled (adjective): Having been made weak.
  • The enfeebled state was unable to defend its borders.
• Debilitating (adjective): Very similar in meaning to "enfeebling," often used interchangeably.
• Weakening (adjective): A more general synonym.

Synonyms

• Debilitating
• Weakening
• Enervating
• Sapping
• Devitalizing

Antonyms

• Strengthening
• Invigorating
• Fortifying
• Energizing

Adjective

1. causing debilitation