Synonyms of sapping

sapping 1 of 2

adjective

as in draining

Related Words

• draining
• weakening
• debilitating
• deadening
• exhausting
• enervating
• pernicious
• injurious
• numbing
• deleterious
• enfeebling
• wearying
• unhealthful
• unwholesome
• unhealthy
• noxious
• insalubrious

Dissimilar Words

• vital
• stimulating
• reviving
• refreshing
• bracing
• tonic
• restorative
• cordial
• stimulative
• rejuvenating
• vitalizing
• invigorating
• strengthening
• life-giving
• conditioning

sapping

2 of 2

verb

present participle of sap

as in weakening

to diminish the physical strength of

weeks of hard work had sapped her and left her exhausted

Synonyms & Similar Words

• weakening
• softening
• wasting
• exhausting
• tiring
• injuring
• hurting
• debilitating
• enervating
• damaging
• paralyzing
• depleting
• enfeebling
• crippling
• impairing
• devitalizing
• disabling
• depressing
• prostrating
• harming
• incapacitating
• etiolating
• impoverishing
• hamstringing
• grinding (down)
• wearing out
• laying up
• unmanning
• washing out
• invaliding
• wearing down
• breaking down

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• strengthening
• fortifying
• recruiting
• energizing
• invigorating
• hardening
• rejuvenating
• beefing (up)
• vitalizing
• seasoning
• toughening

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of sapping

Verb

Unlike basketball or baseball, pro football is far from the point where regular-season contests become meaningless, but that hasn’t stopped its fans from debating whether the NFL is sapping some of the magic that comes from football’s scarcity. — Jacob Stern, The Atlantic, 10 July 2026

Heat waves threaten an array of costs for the economy, sapping the productivity of outdoor workers, shutting some shoppers inside their homes and driving up utility payments, some analysts told ABC News. — Max Zahn, ABC News, 8 July 2026

To be clear, government spending is the biggest, most economy-sapping tax of all. — John Tamny, Forbes.com, 21 June 2026

With the World Cup kickoff just over a week away, climate scientists are warning that heat could be an invisible opponent, slowing play at open-air venues like Kansas City Stadium (Arrowhead Stadium), sapping players’ legs and testing fans in sweltering conditions. — Kansas City Star, 4 June 2026

That uses the aerodisc wheels, each machined from a single piece of aluminum and designed to minimize range-sapping eddies and wakes by funneling the air like a turbine. — Jonathan M. Gitlin, ArsTechnica, 26 May 2026

Over two energy-sapping legs and more than three-and-a-half hours of football, Southampton required a 116th-minute winner from Shea Charles to come from behind on the night and eliminate Middlesbrough from the Championship play-offs and advance to the final against Hull City on Saturday, May 23. — Dan Sheldon, New York Times, 13 May 2026

Democrats in control of the legislature warn that would hamstring other state priorities, like education and healthcare, by sapping money from the general fund. — Seth Klamann, Denver Post, 13 May 2026

The conflict is not only sapping oil revenue, but also Gulf states’ efforts to expand their economies beyond it. — Evan Halper, Washington Post, 10 May 2026