Word.ws English Dictionary

debility

/dɪˈbɪlɪti/

debility noun: a state of physical or mental weakness.

Noun

debility (countable and uncountable, plural debilities)

  1. A state of physical or mental weakness.
    • […] and is the onlie laſt remedie for all debilities which haue long vexed the body through a hote diſtemper of the Lever, ſuch as a hote Gutte; it allayeth all Inflamations inward & outward.1618, Patri[c]k Anderson, The Colde Spring of Kinghorne Craig […], Edinburgh: Thomas Finlason, unnumbered page
    • As I was in a state of extreme debility, I resolved to sail directly towards the town, as a place where I could most easily procure nourishment.
      […]
      I was ready to sink from fatigue and hunger, but being surrounded by a crowd, I thought it politic to rouse all my strength, that no physical debility...1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington...

debility meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Malayalam

debility in Hindi

state of weakness
दुर्बलता durbaltā, निर्बलता nirbaltā, शिथिलता śithiltā

debility in Tamil

ஆற்றலிழப்பு, ஆற்றல்குறை, வலுவிழப்பு நோய், தளர்ச்சி, பலவீனம்

debility in Urdu

کمزوری, ناتوانی, نقاہت, ضعف

debility in Malayalam

weakness, frailty, enfeeble-ment
തളർച്ച, ശക്തിക്ഷയം, ബലക്കുറവ്, ദൗർബ്ബല്യം, ദൗർബ്ബലം, ഉലവ്
More languagesFewer languages
debility in Kannada
ನಿಶ್ಶಕ್ತಿ, ಶಕ್ತಿಹೀನತೆ, ದೌರ್ಬಲ್ಯ, ನಿತ್ರಾಣ
debility in Sanskrit
ग्लानि glāní
debility in Persian
عجز 'ajz, ناتوانی nâtavâni

Examples of debility in a sentence

  • I was struck besides with the shocking expression of his face, with his remarkable combination of great muscular activity and great apparent debility of constitution1886, Robert Louis Stephenson, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde:
  • At the mention of money Mrs Dibble was overcome with great debility, and wheezed, "I don't feel up to talking about money, matters just now, dearie.1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 43:

Forms of debility

pluraldebilities

Origin of debility

From Middle English debylite, from Old French debilité (French débilité), from Latin dēbilitās (“weakness”), from dēbilis (“weak”), from dē- + habilis (“able”).

Words that rhyme with debility

36 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about debility

What does debility mean?
Debility means a state of physical or mental weakness.
What is debility in Hindi?
Debility in Hindi is दुर्बलता (durbaltā), निर्बलता (nirbaltā), शिथिलता (śithiltā). See Debility meaning in Hindi.
How do you use debility in a sentence?
I was struck besides with the shocking expression of his face, with his remarkable combination of great muscular activity and great apparent debility of constitution
What part of speech is debility?
Debility is a noun.
How do you pronounce debility?
Debility is pronounced /dɪˈbɪlɪti/ (UK).
What is the plural of debility?
The plural of debility is debilities.

Words near debility in the dictionary

  1. debilitations
  2. debilitative
  3. debilitator
  4. debilitators
  5. debilities
  6. debility
  7. debind
  8. debinder
  9. debinding
  10. debinds
  11. debismuthization

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: debility (page history and authors); debility (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); debility (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); debility (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); debility (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ग्लानि (Sanskrit) (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.

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Cite this entry: “debility.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/debility. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.