Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Debility |
DebilityNoun1. The state of being weak in health or body (especially from old age). Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "debility" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1350. (references) |
Synonyms: DebilitySynonyms: feebleness (n), frailness (n), frailty (n), infirmity (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Weakness | Noun: weakness; Adjective: debility, atony, relaxation, languor, enervation; impotence; infirmity; effeminacy, feminality; fragility, flaccidity; inactivity. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Debility |
| English words defined with "debility": Abirritation, Abirritative, Adynamic fevers ♦ convalescent ♦ Hectic fever ♦ recovering ♦ typhoid fever. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "debility": chronic infectious arthritis ♦ GLIRICIDIA SEPIUM, GNAPHALIUM ELEGANS, GNAPHALIUM SPICATUM, GNETUM LEYBOLDII ♦ Pastime, proliferative arthritis. ♦ rhumatoid arthritis ♦ school for delicate children, school for the chronically sick ♦ Winds. (references) |
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Death is generally caused by pneumonia or other complications of severe debility, such as sepsis or pulmonary embolism. (references) | |
Business | The Berlin Wall became the symbol of the East's political debility and the division of Europe. (references) | |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | PASTIME, n. A device for promoting dejection. Gentle exercise for intellectual debility. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Debility" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Debility" is used about 32 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 32 | 61,292 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "debility": nervous debility. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
debility | 13 |
debility ulstermen | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "debility"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | dobësi (adynamia, anaemia, anemia, delicacy, disease, failing, feebleness, flabbiness, flaccidity, fragility, frailty, goneness, impotence, impotency, inanimation, inanition, inanity, infirmity, labefaction, languish, languor, laxness, leanness, limpness, malady, marasmus, reaction, sinking, tabescence, tenuity, vulnerability, washiness, weakness), ligështi (faintness, feebleness, languor, weakness). (various references) | |
Arabic | وهن (asthenia, attenuate, attenuation, damp, dampen, debilitate, decay, discouragement, distemper, droop, enervate, enfeeble, extenuate, feebleness, imitators, infirmity, invalidate, languish, languishment, languor, pall, relax, sap, shrivel, sickliness, thin, weak spot, weaken, weaklings), ضعف (attenuation, backwardness, crack, craze, decrepitude, defect, delicacy, emaciation, enervation, failing, failure, fainting, feebleness, flabbiness, flightiness, frailness, frailty, grogginess, imitators, impairment, impotence, inadequacy, incapability, infirmity, lameness, languor, limp, limpness, shakiness, sickliness, sleeplessness, tenuousness, twice, uneasiness, weak spot, weaklings, weakness). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | слабост (asthenia, crack, demerit, failing, fancy, feebleness, flabbiness, frailness, frailty, impotence, impotency, inanition, infirmity, insufficiency, leanness, partiality, poorness, shortcoming, tenderness, tenuity, weakness), немощ (anility, decrepitude, feebleness, infirmity, prostration), болнавост (invalidity, valetudinarianism). (various references) | |
Czech | slabost (faintness, feebleness, frailty, impotence, infirmity, invalidity, qualm, thinness, weak spot, weakness), chabost (vapidity). (various references) | |
Danish | debilitet (feeblemindedness, weakness). (various references) | |
Dutch | debiliteit (weakness), debilitas (weakness), zwakte (weakness). (various references) | |
Finnish | yleinen heikkous (general debility). (various references) | |
French | débilité (debilitation). (various references) | |
German | Schwächezustand. (various references) | |
Greek | ατονία (infirmity, languor, lassitude, laxity, listlessness, nervelessness, prostration, tonelessness, weakness), εξασθένηση (attenuation, decline, extinction, fading, impairment, loss, weakness), αδυναμία (asthenia, delicacy, feebleness, flabbiness, foible, frailness, frailty, inability, infirmity, languor, lassitude, puniness, shortcoming, weakliness, weakness). (various references) | |
Hebrew | חלשות (exhaustion, faintness, feebleness, frailty, weakness), חולש" (distemper, faintness, feebleness, flabbiness, frailness, frailty, infirmity, languishment, languor, laxation, weakness). (various references) | |
Hungarian | gyengeség (enervation, failing, faintness, feebleness, flimsiness, foible, fragility, frailness, impotence, infirmity, mildness, tenuity, tenuousness, weakness), kimerültség (brain-fag, exhaustion, fatigue, fatigue-fever, goneness, lassitude, prostration, weariness), erőtlenség (incapacity, limpness, tenuity, tenuousness). (various references) | |
Indonesian | kelemahan (infirmity, shortcoming, weakness). (various references) | |
Italian | debolezza (enervation, failing, faintness, feebleness, infirmity, market, market dullness, market flatness, market slackness, market sluggishness, poorness, thinness, weakness). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 衰弱 (breakdown, prostration, weakness). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | すいじゃく (appearances of Buddha to save men, breakdown, prostration, Shinto god who is the reincarnation of a Buddha or bodhisattva, weakness). (various references) | |
Manx | annooinid (faintness). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ebilityday.(various references) | |
Portuguese | debilidade (asthenia, exhaustion, frailty, impotence, impotency, infirmity, limpness, thinner, weakness). (various references) | |
Romanian | debilitate (adynamia, feebleness, frailty, infirmity, sinking), slãbiciune (decrepitude, defect, droop, failing, faintness, feebleness, flimsiness, foible, infirmity, languor, leanness, liking, propensity, shortcoming, tenuity, weakness), astenie (asthenia). (various references) | |
Russian | слабость (adynamia, asthenia, debilitation, enervation, failing, faintness, feebleness, flabbiness, foible, fragility, infirmity, languor, limpness, looseness, washiness, weakness, wilt). (various references) | |
Scottish | laigse (feebleness). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | osalbljenost, iznurenost (emaciation, frazzle, weariness). (various references) | |
Spanish | debilidad (debilitation, dimness, enervation, exhaustion, faintness, feebleness, flabbiness, flimsiness, foible, frailness, frailty, grogginess, infirmity, market, market dullness, market flatness, market slackness, market sluggishness, meekness, shakiness, weakness). (various references) | |
Swedish | svaghet (dotage, fault, flaw, foible, fragility, frailty, impairment, impuissance, infirmity, loophole, operating system security flaw, security flaw, weakness). (various references) | |
Turkish | dermansızlık (atony, decrepitude, exhaustion, senility, sinking), zayıflık (caducity, delicacy, diathesis, failing, faintness, feebleness, flabbiness, frailness, frailty, impotence, impotency, lameness, leanness, puniness, slimness, spareness, thinness, weakness), halsizlik (grogginess, infirmity, languor, lassitude, prostration, sinking, weakness). (various references) | |
Ukranian | слабість (ail, asthenia, delicacy, enervation, flaccidity, foible, illness, languor, limpness, wasting, weakness), хворобливість (morbidity, morbidness, sickliness), безсилля (adynamia, emasculation, impotence), прояв слабості. (various references) | |
Vietnamese | sự yếu ớt (impuissance, tenderness), sự nhu nhược (pusillanimity, remissiness), sự bất lực (impuissance, inability, incapability, shiftlessness). (various references) | |
Welsh | musgrellni (feebleness), llesgedd (languor, weakness). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | debilitatum. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Misspellings | |
"Debility" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Debili, debilit, dibility. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "debility" (pronounced dubi"lutē) |
| 8 | d u b i" l u t ē | affordability, credibility, dependability, readability. |
| 7 | -u b i" l u t ē | ability, acceptability, accessibility, adaptability, admissibility, advisability, amiability, applicability, availability, believability, capability, comparability, compatibility, comprehensibility, convertibility, culpability, deductibility, deniability, desirability, disability, durability, electability, eligibility, enforceability, fallibility, feasibility, flammability, flexibility, gullibility, impossibility, inability, inaccessibility, incompatibility, indestructibility, inevitability, infallibility, inflexibility, instability, invincibility, invisibility, invulnerability, irresponsibility, irritability, legibility, liability, malleability, maneuverability, marketability, miscibility, palatability, permeability, plausibility, portability, possibility, predictability, probability, profitability, reliability, respectability, responsibility, sensibility, stability, suitability, survivability, susceptibility, sustainability, transferability, unavailability, unpredictability, unreliability, variability, viability, visibility, vulnerability. |
| 6 | -b i" l u t ē | immobility, mobility, nobility. |
| 5 | -i" l u t ē | agility, civility, docility, ductility, facility, fertility, fragility, futility, gentility, hostility, humility, incivility, infertility, motility, nonutility, senility, sterility, tranquility, utility, versatility, virility, volatility. |
| 4 | -l u t ē | abnormality, accountability, actuality, banality, bestiality, bisexuality, brutality, causality, centrality, collegiality, commonality, conditionality, confidentiality, congeniality, constitutionality, credulity, criminality, criticality, cyclicality, dimensionality, duality, equality, eventuality, extraterritoriality, fatality, fidelity, finality, formality, frivolity, frugality, functionality, generality, geniality, heterosexuality, homosexuality, hospitality, illegality, immorality, immortality, impartiality, impersonality, incredulity, individuality, inequality, infidelity, informality, instrumentality, irrationality, legality, lethality, liberality, locality, materiality, mentality, modality, morality, mortality, municipality, musicality, mutuality, nationality, neutrality, normality, originality, partiality, personality, plurality, polity, practicality, principality, proportionality, punctuality, quality, rationality, reality, seasonality, sensuality, sentimentality, sexuality, speciality, spirituality, technicality, theatricality, tonality, totality, triviality, universality, unreality, venality, vitality. |
| 3 | -u t ē | absurdity, acidity, activity, acuity, adversity, affinity, aggressivity, alacrity, alkalinity, ambiguity, amenity, amity, analyticity, animosity, annuity, anonymity, antiquity, anxiety, atrocity, audacity, austerity, authenticity, authority, barbarity, biodiversity, brevity, calamity, capacity, captivity, cavity, celebrity, charity, chastity, clarity, commodity, community, complexity, complicity, conductivity, conformity, congruity, connectivity, continuity, creativity, crotchety, curiosity, deformity, deity, density, depravity, deputy, dexterity, dignity, discontinuity, disparity, dissimilarity, disunity, diversity, divinity, domesticity, duplicity, eccentricity, elasticity, electricity, enmity, enormity, entity, equanimity, equity, eternity, ethnicity, exclusivity, expressivity, extremity, falsity, familiarity, Felicity, femininity, ferocity, festivity, fluidity, fraternity, generosity, gratuity, gravity, heredity, heterogeneity, hilarity, homogeneity, humanity, humidity, hyperactivity, hypersensitivity, identity, illiquidity, immaturity, immunity, impropriety, impunity, impurity, inactivity, incapacity, incongruity, indemnity, indignity, inequity, inferiority, infinity, infirmity, ingenuity, inhumanity, insanity, insecurity, insensitivity, insularity, integrity, intensity, irregularity, laity, laxity, levity, liquidity, lividity, longevity, majority, masculinity, maternity, maturity, mediocrity, mendacity, minority, modernity, monstrosity, morbidity, multiplicity, nativity, necessity, negativity, Nonconformity, nonentity, notoriety, nudity, obesity, objectivity, obscenity, obscurity, oddity, opacity, opportunity, overcapacity, oversensitivity, parity, particularity, passivity, paternity, paucity, peculiarity, perpetuity, perplexity, perversity, piety, polarity, pomposity, popularity, posterity, priority, probity, proclivity, productivity, profanity, progressivity, promiscuity, propensity, propriety, prosperity, proximity, publicity, purity, quantity, radioactivity, rapidity, rarity, reactivity, receptivity, reciprocity, reflexivity, regularity, relativity, religiosity, retroactivity, rickety, rigidity, salinity, sanctity, sanity, scarcity, security, selectivity, seniority, sensitivity, serendipity, serenity, severity, similarity, simplicity, sincerity, sobriety, society, solemnity, solidarity, solidity, sorority, specificity, spontaneity, stupidity, subjectivity, superconductivity, superfluidity, superiority, supermajority, surety, temerity, tenacity, timidity, toxicity, Trinity, turbidity, ubiquity, unanimity, unfamiliarity, uniformity, unity, university, unpopularity, uppity, validity, vanity, variety, varsity, velocity, velvety, veracity, Verity, vicinity, virginity, virtuosity, viscosity, voracity, vulgarity. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "b-d-e-i-i-l-t-y" | |
-2 letters: tidily. | |
-3 letters: bidet, bield, blite, debit, deity, teiid, tilde, tiled, yield. | |
-4 letters: belt, bide, bile, bite, bled, blet, byte, debt, deil, deli, delt, diel, diet, dite, edit, idle, idly, idyl, lied, lite, tide, tidy, tied, tile, yeld, yeti. | |
-5 letters: bed, bel, bet, bey, bid, bit, bye, deb, del, dey, dib, die, dit, dye, eld, led, lei, let, ley, lib, lid, lie, lit, lye, ted, tel, tie, til, tye, yet, yid. | |
| Words containing the letters "b-d-e-i-i-l-t-y" | |
+1 letter: edibility. | |
+2 letters: bipedality, dyeability. | |
+3 letters: credibility, deniability, educability, erodibility, readability, vendibility. | |
+4 letters: decidability, desirability, detonability, drapeability, driveability, dyeabilities, identifiably, indefectibly, indelibility, reducibility. | |
+5 letters: creditability, damageability, deductibility, defeasibility, defensibility, delectability, dependability, detachability, detectability, deterrability, digestibility, discreditably, disobediently, excludability, expandability, expendability, extendability, extrudability, incredibility, indefatigably, ineducability, perdurability, refundability, remediability, solderability, spreadability, uninhibitedly. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)44 65 62 69 6C 69 74 79 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)-.. . -... .. .-.. .. - -.--. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000100 01100101 01100010 01101001 01101100 01101001 01110100 01111001 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)D e b i l i t y |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0044 0065 0062 0069 006C 0069 0074 0079 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)3871687578758691 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Quotations: Non-fiction 6. Usage Frequency 7. Expressions 8. Expressions: Internet | 9. Translations: Modern 10. Translations: Ancient 11. Derivations 12. Rhymes | 13. Anagrams 14. Orthography 15. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
