devitalizing

verb

present participle of devitalize
1
as in undermining
to deprive of emotional or intellectual vitality overuse has devitalized many a once-striking figure of speech

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in weakening
to diminish the physical strength of she was devitalized by the infection

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for devitalizing
  1. undermining
  2. weakening
  3. draining
  4. softening
  5. exhausting
  6. wasting
  7. enervating
  8. deadening
Verb
  • Iran and its Houthi allies are now undermining both of those operations.
    — David Goldman, CNN Money, 14 Oct. 2026
  • The Navy desperately needs more subs, and Baltimore stands to gain thousands of jobs, but making the primary customer a 40 percent owner of a new facility risks undermining market discipline.
    — Editorial Board, Washington Post, 10 Oct. 2026
Definition of undermining
Verb
  • Mortgage demand continues to drop sharply, as buyers face higher prices and weakening affordability.
    — Diana Olick, CNBC, 14 Oct. 2026
  • The upper-level trough over the western United States will gradually advance eastward, weakening the influence of the ridge that has kept us hot and relatively dry.
    — Michael Autovino, CBS News, 13 Oct. 2026
Definition of weakening
Verb
  • Eating triggers saliva production, but a stone can keep the saliva from draining, causing the gland to swell.
    — Angela Haupt, Time, 16 Oct. 2026
  • On the ground floor, outside the main building, a humanoid was flat on its back after draining its battery during a demo.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 9 Oct. 2026
Definition of draining
Verb
  • In the late 1970s, Giorgio Armani stripped the structure out of the traditional suit, softening its shoulders and loosening its trousers.
    — John Vorwald, Robb Report, 11 Oct. 2026
  • Even with used vehicle prices softening slightly, high borrowing costs keep monthly payments out of reach for many prospective buyers.
    — Michael Khouw, CNBC, 9 Oct. 2026
Definition of softening
Verb
  • So, get ready for mountain vistas and exhausting cycling days to take your breath away and questions about your life choices to swirl around in your head!
    — Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 17 Oct. 2026
  • On the third bike was Jenny Brookes, Zero's senior global brand manager, who rode a standard DSR/X adventure bike for approximately 239 miles (384 km) before exhausting its battery.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of exhausting
Verb
  • House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said on Thursday that Republicans were wasting money by targeting two House seats held by vulnerable Democrats in the state of New York.
    — Lauren Green, The Washington Examiner, 8 Oct. 2026
  • Identifying the cause of your hair loss first is what keeps you from wasting money on the wrong product, according to Kazlouskaya.
    — Hanna Wickes, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of wasting
Verb
  • Campbell, the North Carolina folk singer, describes an enervating process marked by back-and-forth exchanges and lots of waiting.
    — Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 25 Mar. 2026
  • Jenny deflected me with enervating ease.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 13 Mar. 2026
Definition of enervating
Verb
  • Inside the cabin, extensive additional sound deadening in the doors, trunk and wheel arches means phone calls and passenger conversations are entirely effortless at highway speeds.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 2 Oct. 2026
  • Each presents a group portrait of a handful of disaffected British suburbanites—husbands who resent their deadening jobs, toddlers who whine and interrupt, and, above all, hassled wives subsumed by a crush of household obligations.
    — Becca Rothfeld, New Yorker, 16 Aug. 2026
Definition of deadening
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.

Browse Nearby Words

devitalizes
devitalizing
devoid
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Cite this Entry

“Devitalizing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/devitalizing. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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