Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The state of being weak or feeble; infirmity.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The state of being weak or feeble; feebleness; lack of strength or vigor.
  • noun Specifically In medicine, that condition of the body, or of any of its organs, in which the vital functions are discharged with less than normal vigor, the amount of power and activity displayed being reduced.
  • noun In astrology, a weakness of a planet, due to its position: the reverse of a dignity.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The state of being weak; weakness; feebleness; languor.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A state of physical or mental weakness.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the state of being weak in health or body (especially from old age)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English debilite, from Old French, from Latin dēbilitās, from dēbilis, weak; see bel- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English debylite, from Old French debilite, from Latin debilitas ("weakness"), from debilis ("weak"), from de- + habilis ("able").

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