Word.ws English Dictionary

enfeebling

enfeebling is the present participle and gerund of enfeeble.

Meaning of enfeeble

Verb

enfeeble (third-person singular simple present enfeebles, present participle enfeebling, simple past and past participle enfeebled)

  1. (transitive) To make feeble.
    • "...the gout, with which he had long been tormented, prevailed over the enfeebled powers of nature."1774, Dr Samuel Johnson, Preface to the Works of the English Poets, J. Nichols, Volume II, Page 130
    Synonyms:
    weaken

Adjective

enfeebling (comparative more enfeebling, superlative most enfeebling)

  1. Causing enfeeblement.
    • This persistence was having a very enfeebling effect on Cora. It gave her the illusion that Ted Farrell was a masterful dominant and that she was being exposed to him as an incompetent noodle.1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 170

Forms of enfeebling

comparativemore enfeebling
superlativemost enfeebling

Questions about enfeebling

What does enfeebling mean?
Enfeebling means causing enfeeblement.
What is enfeebling the present participle and gerund of?
Enfeebling is the present participle and gerund of enfeeble.
What part of speech is enfeebling?
Enfeebling is an adjective.

Words near enfeebling in the dictionary

  1. enfeeblement
  2. enfeeblements
  3. enfeebler
  4. enfeeblers
  5. enfeebles
  6. enfeebling
  7. enfeeblished
  8. enfelon
  9. enfeloned
  10. enfemme
  11. enfeoff

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: enfeebling (page history and authors); enfeeble (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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