enfeeble
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
- enfeeblement noun
- enfeebler noun
- unenfeebled adjective
Etymology
Origin of enfeeble
1300–50; Middle English enfeblen < Old French enfeblir. See en- 1, feeble
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Partisanship, the first president observed, “serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 3, 2026
The paradox is that trauma’s lingering impacts can enfeeble human connection, weakening even the strongest of social bonds.
From New York Times • Jul. 5, 2022
How, in other words, fear and neglect, rather than the waywardness Vogel rails against, are what really enfeeble the mind.
From Los Angeles Times • May 26, 2022
Abood held fast for several decades in the face of a well-funded movement to reverse the decision and enfeeble public sector unions.
From Slate • Dec. 7, 2017
You must accept the whole or reject the whole; attenuation does but enfeeble, and amputation mutilate.
From An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine by Newman, John Henry Cardinal
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
