Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of debility 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 As with fibroids, hormonal treatments and surgical options can help, though scarring and changes in the nervous system’s threshold for perceiving pain (eventually creating the experience of pain even in the absence of a stimulus) can create long-term debilities. Laura Kolbe, The New York Review of Books, 18 Jan. 2024 In Amy Schumer’s comedy special Emergency Contact, the comedian talks about developing hyperemesis gravidarum, a potentially life-threatening condition that causes extreme, persistent nausea and vomiting and might lead to malnutrition, dehydration, and debility. Brianna Holt, Vogue, 7 July 2023 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 Has our battle with COVID-19 come to such a standstill that a slow burn of disruption, debility, and death will continue for years to come? Dhruv Khullar, The New Yorker, 8 Oct. 2022 At 40, Baudelaire was a shadow of his former self, crushed by unrepayable debts, suffering the aftereffects of a seemingly minor stroke, and facing the onset of syphilitic debility. Washington Post, 11 May 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for debility
Noun
  • With a newfound sense of self, Murderbot is forced to hide its disgust for human weakness and emotion.
    Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 16 May 2025
  • Proton Mail encourages you to save a recovery key in the form of a lengthy code and a QR code, but that recovery key itself now becomes a weakness.
    PC Magazine, PC Magazine, 14 May 2025
Noun
  • In addition to exhaustion and dehydration, mountaineers can also find themselves at risk of avalanches, hypothermia and falling.
    Amy Woodyatt, CNN Money, 13 May 2025
  • The cost of this mental churning extends beyond personal exhaustion.
    Melody Wilding, Forbes.com, 13 May 2025
Noun
  • Mind fatigue can lead to shortcuts such as not thoroughly proofing an important email or opting out of decision-making with your team.
    Bryan Robinson, Forbes.com, 17 May 2025
  • And the economy-powering consumers are already showing some signs of fatigue: Sales at US retailers slowed sharply in April to 0.1% after a surge of 1.7% in March, when shoppers rushed to beat the slew of new tariffs.
    Alicia Wallace, CNN Money, 15 May 2025

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Debility.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/debility. Accessed 23 May. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on debility

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!