as in exhausting
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Dissimilar Words
1
as in undermining
to deprive of emotional or intellectual vitality
a lifetime of working in dreary jobs had enervated his very soul
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in weakening
to diminish the physical strength of
the surgery really enervated me for weeks afterwards
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of enervating
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
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
Adjective
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Days began with morning yoga and consisted of one-on-one therapy sessions, emotionally exhausting group exercises, and experiential lessons like art therapy and roleplaying.
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Most of it is the quiet, exhausting work that never makes the greeting card.
Verb
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Facilitating investment in Ukraine’s natural resources sector would put more minerals and gas under US influence, and leverage them to achieve the broader foreign policy objective of undermining Russia.
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The real focus should be on utilities demonstrating how future T&D investments will efficiently deliver power, rather than undermining competition or seeking a return to less competitive systems.
Verb
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The hurricane-weakening effects of El Niño may be positive for property and casualty insurers in the Northern Hemisphere.
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An unpopular war, a structurally sound economy, but maybe GDP weakening, unemployment strong, but consumer confidence weakening.
Adjective
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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.
-
My friend was in course of opening up his country house unassisted, and after a fatiguing day discovered that the only practical bed was a child’s affair— long enough but scarcely wider than a crib.
Verb
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Young people didn’t think these types of jobs paid enough money and felt the roles were often more emotionally draining than others.
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Both handhelds sipped power during Balatro, draining the battery at around 14W and 9W, respectively.
Verb
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National polling on the administration’s immigration policies tends to follow party lines, drawing Democrats’ disapproval and Republicans’ support, but recent polling suggests some softening among the latter.
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In France, Le Pen and her allies are leading in polls by softening their apocalyptic rhetoric and instead promising big-government populist economic relief.
Adjective
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Parazaider had revealed his most debilitating condition in a statement on the group’s website 2021.
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Such a statistic often provokes a familiar gamut of responses from those who read it, from shock, disgust and anger to a debilitating sense of helplessness.
Verb
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Sam Lambert laid down a safety squeeze, deadening the ball in front of the plate and scoring Balls to trim the lead to 3-1.
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Another suggestion was requiring special sound-deadening balls, currently available, that lower the decibel levels considerably.
Cite this Entry
“Enervating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/enervating. Accessed 29 Jun. 2026.
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