Debility

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Debility \De*bil"i*ty\, n. [L. debilitas, fr. debilis weak,
     prob. fr. de- + habilis able: cf. F. d['e]bilit['e]. See
     {Able}, a.]
     The state of being weak; weakness; feebleness; languor.
     [1913 Webster]
  


           The inconveniences of too strong a perspiration, which
           are debility, faintness, and sometimes sudden death.
                                                    --Arbuthnot.
  
     Syn: {Debility}, {Infirmity}, {Imbecility}.
  
     Usage: An infirmity belongs, for the most part, to particular
            members, and is often temporary, as of the eyes, etc.
            Debility is more general, and while it lasts impairs
            the ordinary functions of nature. Imbecility attaches
            to the whole frame, and renders it more or less
            powerless. Debility may be constitutional or may be
            the result or superinduced causes; Imbecility is
            always constitutional; infirmity is accidental, and
            results from sickness or a decay of the frame. These
            words, in their figurative uses, have the same
            distinctions; we speak of infirmity of will, debility
            of body, and an Imbecility which affects the whole
            man; but Imbecility is often used with specific
            reference to feebleness of mind.
            [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  debility
       n : the state of being weak in health or body (especially from
           old age) [syn: {infirmity}, {frailty}, {feebleness}, {frailness}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  102 Moby Thesaurus words for "debility":
     advanced age, advanced years, adynamia, age of retirement,
     an incurable disease, anemia, anility, atony, blah feeling,
     bloodlessness, brain fag, cachexia, cachexy, caducity,
     chronic ill health, cowardice, debilitation, decline of life,
     declining years, decrepitude, delicacy, delicate health, disease,
     dotage, dullness, eld, elderliness, enervation, enfeeblement,
     etiolation, exhaustion, eyestrain, faintness, fatigue, feebleness,
     flabbiness, flaccidity, fragility, frailty, goneness,
     green old age, hale old age, healthlessness, heart strain,
     hoary age, hypochondria, hypochondriasis, ill health, impotence,
     infirm old age, infirmity, infirmity of age, invalidism,
     invalidity, jadedness, languishing, languishment, languor,
     lassitude, listlessness, longevity, malaise, mental fatigue,
     mental strain, morbidity, morbidness, old age, oldness, overstrain,
     overtiredness, peakedness, pensionable age, poor health,
     prostration, ricketiness, ripe old age, second childhood,
     senectitude, senility, senior citizenship, sickliness, sleepiness,
     sluggishness, softness, stance fatigue, strain, strengthlessness,
     superannuation, the downward slope, the golden years, tiredness,
     unhealthiness, unsoundness, unwholesomeness, vale of years,
     valetudinarianism, wasting, weakliness, weakness, wearifulness,
     weariness, white hairs