as in debilitating
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as in weakening
to diminish the physical strength of
long periods of being confined to a hospital bed will enfeeble anyone
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Recent Examples of enfeebling
Mike O'Sullivan, Forbes.com, 15 Aug. 2025
Verb
If that is the case, the economic effect will be to draw capital out of emerging market economies, enfeebling them (and their currencies and bond markets).
—Mike O'Sullivan, Forbes.com, 15 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for enfeebling
Adjective
-
Just south of those areas, a debilitating and destructive ice storm that will undoubtedly shut down airports and entire cities for days leaving millions without power.—
Terry Eliasen,
CBS News,
23 Jan. 2026
-
Strategic attacks on leadership, command and control, electricity, transportation, and communications had a debilitating effect on Iraqi forces in the field.—
David A. Deptula,
Forbes.com,
16 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Ali Safavi, a senior official with the National Council of Resistance of Iran, said the images were aimed less at reassuring the public than at boosting morale among the regime’s weakening security forces.—
Emma Bussey,
FOXNews.com,
2 Feb. 2026
-
Skies will be sunny, with winds weakening by the afternoon.—
Anthony Franze,
San Antonio Express-News,
30 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Long periods of socializing, like a weeklong conference, can feel far more draining than shorter events.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
28 Oct. 2025
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By aligning strategic work with those rhythms, productivity can feel more natural and less draining.—
Matthew Kayser,
USA Today,
28 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Is there a downside to softening butter quickly?—
Molly Allen,
Southern Living,
1 Feb. 2026
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With a severe deficiency, bone softening (a condition called osteomalacia in adults and rickets in children) may develop.—
Mark Stibich,
Verywell Health,
30 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Grand Luna has an unprecedented high-frequency extension that goes as high as 30kHz, while remaining smooth, non-fatiguing, and eliminating harshness or sibilance thanks to Campfire’s acoustic engineering.—
Mark Sparrow,
Forbes.com,
8 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Yet seldom is heard a discouraging word when Darnold assesses what happened in New York, Carolina, San Francisco, or Minnesota.—
Jerry McDonald,
Mercury News,
5 Feb. 2026
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Their status has been diminished by what has — charitably — been a really discouraging decade, featuring two separate relegations.—
Sebastian Stafford-Bloor,
New York Times,
9 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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UConn shot 8-for-15 from 3-point range in the first half to Creighton’s 5-for-10, and went on a demoralizing 10-2 scoring run over the final two minutes of the half to take a 41-30 lead into the break.—
Joe Arruda,
Hartford Courant,
1 Feb. 2026
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After a year of lackluster hiring and an increasingly demoralizing job-search process, many are sitting out the slog of finding new work altogether.—
Jennifer Liu,
CNBC,
14 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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The filmmakers capture all of this with such beauty and empathy, this exhausting undertaking appears lyrical on screen.—
Murtada Elfadl,
Variety,
1 Feb. 2026
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This condition, known as dysarthria, affects nearly half of all stroke survivors and can make everyday communication exhausting.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
1 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Enfeebling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/enfeebling. Accessed 8 Feb. 2026.
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