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

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɪˈbɪlɪti/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪlɪti

Noun

debility (countable and uncountable, plural debilities)

1. A state of physical or mental weakness.
   • 1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC:

     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

   • 1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 43:

     At the mention of money Mrs Dibble was overcome with great debility, and wheezed, "I don't feel up to talking about money, matters just now, dearie. I think I better have a bit of a doze."

Related terms

• debile
• debilitate
• debilitation

Translations

state of weakness

Bulgarian: безсилие (bg) (bezsilie), немощ (bg) (nemošt) Chinese: Mandarin: please add this translation if you can French: débilité (fr) f, fatigue (fr) f Hindi: दुर्बलता (hi) f (durbaltā), निर्बलता (hi) f (nirbaltā) Irish: laige f Japanese: 衰弱 (ja) (suijaku) Latin: infirmitas f, debilitas f Ottoman Turkish: درمانسزلق (dermansızlık), ضعیفلق (zaʼiflık) Persian: عجز (fa) ('ajz), ناتوانی (fa) (nâtavâni) Portuguese: debilidade (pt) f Russian: сла́бость (ru) f (slábostʹ), бесси́лие (ru) n (bessílije), не́мощь (ru) f (némoščʹ), деграда́ция (ru) f (degradácija) Spanish: debilidad (es) f Ukrainian: сла́бкість f (slábkistʹ), сла́бість f (slábistʹ), безси́лля (uk) n (bezsýllja)

Further reading

• “debility”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “debility”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.