debile

Syllables: de·bile/dɛˈbiːl/

debile adjective: weak; feeble.

Adjective

debile (comparative more debile, superlative most debile)

(obsolete) Weak; feeble.
- So, then, it was no surprise to the ranchhold when the buckboard spun to the door, and Raidler took up his debile protégé like a handful of rags and set him down upon the gallery.1903 February, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “Hygeia at the Solito”, in Everybody’s Magazine, volume VIII, number 2, New York, N.Y.: John Wanamaker, →ISSN, page 174, column 1
(historical) Having debilism.
- Being a little debile and unclear of mind he did not realize the risks he was running by passing all his nights in the same bed as the daughter, while he himself was suffering continually from a dammed-up sexual drive.1935, Olof Kinberg, Basic Problems of Criminology, William Heinemann, page 181
- Cretins are debile, hard of hearing, and small in stature.1979, E[rnst] Rudolf Froesch, translated by Terry Telger, “Endocrinology”, in Albert A[lois] Buehlmann, E[rnst] Rudolf Froesch, editors, Pathophysiology, New York, N.Y.: Springer-Verlag, →ISBN, page...

debile (plural debiles)

(historical) A person with debilism.
- A very important group of the mentally abnormal, the oligophrenes, who — according to the degree of lack of intelligence — are called idiots, imbeciles, or debiles, are inter alia also predisposed to misbehaviour because they lack the ability to understand what to do in a situation demanding action.1935, Olof Kinberg, Basic Problems of Criminology, William Heinemann, page 178
- As a rule debiles act on normalpsychologic^([sic]) inducements and their criminality is determined by social influences, which they are not apt to assimilate without conflicts. Therefore idiots are always irresponsible, but debiles are as a rule responsible.1954, Nauchni Trudove, volumes 1–2, page 52

‘Debile’ patients suffered from moderate mental retardation or learning difficulty.1999, Andrew Boyd, Baroness Cox: A Voice for the Voiceless, Lion, →ISBN, page 96:
Oligophrenes (debiles) are taught in special schools in the maintenance of the Ministry of Public Education of the R.S.F.S.R.1956, William Line, Margery R. King, editors, Mental Health in Public Affairs: A Report, University of Toronto Press, page 216:
True debiles are admitted by the gang, to serve as an instrument of blind force.1961, Abstracts on Criminology and Penology, volume 1, page 398, column 1:
Imbeciles and debiles are able to give conditional reflexes.1962, Christian Astrup, Schizophrenia: Conditional Reflex Studies, Thomas, →ISBN, page 64:

From Middle French débile (“weak”), from Latin dēbilis.

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

What does debile mean?: Debile means weak; feeble.
How do you use debile in a sentence?: ‘Debile’ patients suffered from moderate mental retardation or learning difficulty.
What part of speech is debile?: Debile can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce debile?: Debile is pronounced /dɛˈbiːl/.

Adapted from Wiktionary: debile (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

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