The disease leads to debility but rarely kills.
the debilities of elderly people
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And, when pets suffered from cancer or heart failure or debility, conversations about what to do next were emotional but often straightforward.—
Sunita Puri,
New Yorker,
6 June 2026 His trajectory is one of softening, from the swaggering knight of the opening to the irrepressible lover of the second act to his final physical debility.—
Justin Davidson,
Vulture,
11 Mar. 2026 In Will There Ever Be Another You, the main character struggles with an illness similar to long COVID, descending into a state of debility and psychosis as readers experience the chaos of her unraveling life.—
Brittney Melton,
NPR,
26 Sep. 2025 The shadow of death and debility haunted American women throughout the nineteenth century.—
Jenny Noyce,
JSTOR Daily,
28 June 2024 President Biden’s troubles — lingering inflation, wars and rumors of wars, his debility — could have benefited any Republican.—
David Harsanyi,
National Review,
25 Jan. 2024 Given their ages and debilities, these soldiers had been deemed unfit for active service.—
David Grann,
The New Yorker,
28 Feb. 2023 The Covid-19 pandemic has driven widespread debility, whether a result of distress or the virus itself, compounded in either case by political abandonment and public health failures.—
Natalie Shure,
The New Republic,
8 Dec. 2022
Word History
Etymology
Middle English debilite, from Middle French debilité, from Latin debilitat-, debilitas, from debilis, from de- de- + -bilis; akin to Sanskrit bala strength