enervating 1 of 2

adjective

as in exhausting

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enervating

2 of 2

verb

present participle of enervate
1
as in undermining
to deprive of emotional or intellectual vitality a lifetime of working in dreary jobs had enervated his very soul

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2
as in weakening
to diminish the physical strength of the surgery really enervated me for weeks afterwards

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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 enervating
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, 13 Mar. 2026 The results are often enervating though sometimes clumsy. — Eli Enis, Pitchfork, 3 Feb. 2026 This may reframe his friend’s enervating habit. — Hope Hunt, Baltimore Sun, 30 Jan. 2026 Some of these values—such as a disciplined commitment to physical fitness—are good and, in my opinion, necessary correctives to the enervating distractions of 21st-century living. — Dan Brooks, The Atlantic, 2 Oct. 2025 Looming over all of it has been the sad, enervating situation with Alexander Isak, forever enshrined as a club legend by dint of Wembley last season but now beyond the point of tarnishing that legacy. — George Caulkin, New York Times, 10 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for enervating
  1. exhausting
  2. undermining
  3. weakening
  4. fatiguing
  5. draining
  6. softening
  7. debilitating
  8. deadening
Adjective
  • Comparison shopping more exhaustively can be just that, exhausting.
    — Lindsay Owens, as told to Nina Zipkin, CNBC, 15 Oct. 2026
  • Galvaran Knee Brace $28 at Amazon Travel can be physically exhausting on the body.
    — Nneya Richards, Travel + Leisure, 11 Oct. 2026
Definition of exhausting
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
Adjective
  • Most other feeders can send dozens, if not hundreds, of clips to your phone each day, which can be more fatiguing than relaxing to go through.
    — Jim Fisher, PC Magazine, 27 Sep. 2026
  • But the most mentally fatiguing aspect, the work found, was having to constantly supervise the AI tools, with some employees overseeing multiple AI agents performing different tasks at the same time.
    — Frank Landymore, Futurism, 12 Mar. 2026
Definition of fatiguing
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
  • On that topic of change, McIlroy began softening his stance about LIV players returning to the PGA Tour months ago.
    — Mark Harris OutKick, FOXNews.com, 14 Oct. 2026
  • The milestone arrives at a precarious time for Australia’s festival sector, which has seen a wave of cancellations and closures in recent years amid rising costs and softening ticket sales.
    — Jessica Lynch, Billboard, 13 Oct. 2026
Definition of softening
Adjective
  • According to the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), threats to these sectors can create debilitating impacts on the economy, public health and safety.
    — Julie Song, Forbes.com, 16 Sep. 2026
  • That’s a good thing, in the sense that even if a child is infected, the vast majority do not develop debilitating, and potentially fatal, consequences.
    — Eli Cahan, Rolling Stone, 21 Aug. 2026
Definition of debilitating
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

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Cite this Entry

“Enervating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/enervating. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

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