Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To weaken or destroy the strength or vitality of: "the luxury which enervates and destroys nations” ( Henry David Thoreau). See Synonyms at deplete.
- v. Medicine To remove a nerve or part of a nerve.
- adj. Deprived of strength; debilitated.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To deprive of nerve, force, or strength; weaken; render feeble: as, idleness and voluptuous indulgences enervate the body.
- Figuratively, to deprive of force or applicability; render ineffective; refute.
- To cut the nerves of: as, to enervate a horse.
- Synonyms To enfeeble, unnerve, debilitate, paralyze, unstring, relax.
- Weakened; weak; enervated.
Wiktionary
- v. transitive To reduce strength or energy; debilitate.
- v. transitive To weaken morally or mentally.
- v. transitive To unnerve or faze.
- v. medicine To partially or completely remove a nerve.
- adj. Made feeble; weakened.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To deprive of nerve, force, strength, or courage; to render feeble or impotent; to make effeminate; to impair the moral powers of.
- adj. Weakened; weak; without strength of force.
WordNet 3.0
- v. weaken mentally or morally
- v. disturb the composure of
Etymologies
- Latin ēnervāre, ēnervāt- : ē-, ex-, ex- + nervus, sinew; see (s)neəu- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Ward, so weakened a body already 'enervate' and emaciated, that at first the patient "was thought to be falling into the agonies of death.”
“[1] But within a few days, apparently, of this date treatment employed on the advice of Dr Joshua Ward, so weakened a body already 'enervate' and emaciated, that at first the patient “was thought to be falling into the agonies of death.””
Henry Fielding A Memoir
“OT will someone tell Fiona Miller (on Daily Politics now) to look up the word "enervate" and use it correctly in future.”
“For such entertainments altogether enervate the minds of people, insensibly leading them into effeminacy, and unfitting them to endure those hardships, and fatigues, which must necessarily be undergone, to bring any province to perfection.”
“It was not that the founders wanted to write religion out of the new nation; Kidd insists that they tended to view robust religion as indispensable to a good society, but that there was a widespread current of thought -- among both the preachers and the Patriots -- that involvement with worldly power tended to enervate and corrupt true religion, so they were careful to reserve ministry for the ministers.”
The Huffington Post: Anil Mundra: 'God Of Liberty': The Role Of Religion In American Independence
“Presumably, if nothing else, our fear of hell purports to enervate good behavior.”
“The Kerry-Lieberman energy bill would enervate America.”
“I am not a fan of the time-wastin 'speechifyin', masturbatory roundtablin ', and high-fallutin' blue-ribbon panels that enervate our government.”
“When Randolph expressed a concern that amendments might “enervate” the Constitution, he mentioned in particular that federal “direct taxation may be too much weakened.””
“Katie said, “I thought ‘enervate’ meant to weaken.””
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘enervate’.
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Muse's tacet ,to learn
Music brings silence's to raging thoughts and temperament , calm, as it is our object of definite purpose.
tacet, cadence, tempo, treble clef, penultimate, lexicon, origin, orchestra, kantele, magus, eros, coalesce and 248 more...
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phrontistery - e
from phrontistery.info
eagre, earing, earwig, easement, eau-de-nil, ebberman, ebeneous, ?boulement, ebriection, ?brillade, ebrious, ebullioscope and 616 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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GRE Barron's 800
abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abject, abjure, abscission, abscond, abstemious, abstinence, abysmal, accretion and 787 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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EN - eloquence in public speaking
Key words from "The Training of a Public Speaker" by Grenville Kleiser (New York and London, 1920)
beget, imago, approbation, orator, peroration, Cicero, eloquence, elocution, rhetoric, premeditate, plead, Isocrates and 264 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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Philosophic , etymology
every major discipline has uniquely developed esoteric nomenclature to facilitate interdisciplinary dissemination
quale , qualia, elegy, tacet, lexicon, annunciate, caste, eros, contrive, purlicue, irony, venacular, dilapidate and 569 more...
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06-13 GRE list
churlish, unswear, abnegate, abjure, state, indemnification, adumbrated, reny, abash, recondite, rescission, esoteric and 260 more...
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to memorize
words i need to memorize
aberrant, abscond, advocate, aggrandize, amalgamate, ambiguous, ambrosial, anomalous, antediluvian, antipathy, arbitrate, assuage and 163 more...
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GRE Reference
A list of words unfamiliar to me that I have repeatedly encountered in GRE question sets.
parochial, clique, salacious, aegis, ostracize, conceited, sacrilegious, inane, serendipity, gourmand, polemic, tenuous and 138 more...
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Words from Moby Dick
frigate, presumptuous, genteel, succor, hearthstone, gentry, factitious, bilious, insurgent, portent, enervate, genuflect and 303 more...
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All The Words
I enjoy collecting words, for I have no fear of them ever running out.
anacoluthon, defenestration, hypnopomp, hypnagogue, idioglossia, panopticon, tatterdemalion, abalone, caltrop, miasma, paroxysm, smalt and 491 more...
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ICE
quincunx, adoxography, panjundrum, breloque, surd, scripturient, rousant, favrile, embouchure, aquarelle, griffonage, sussultatory and 491 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for enervate.
dhruvsinghal The intense sun in India would always leave you enervated after you've spent the day sightseeing. May 11, 2013
hernesheir Not to be confused with innervate. May 20, 2010
dewiclark29 enervate \EN-ur-vayt\, transitive verb:
1. To deprive of vigor, force, or strength; to render feeble; to weaken.
2. To reduce the moral or mental vigor of. Aug 12, 2008
rgbrooks You would think enervate would be to get your nerve up, not down. Dec 17, 2007