debilitate
/dɪˈbɪlɪteɪt/
"debilitate" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“debilitate” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To make feeble; to weaken.
Corpus desk
Index EN-debilitate · debilitate · English
debilitate · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "D" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | debilitate |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /dɪˈbɪlɪteɪt/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “debilitate” in English
Rare enough to double-check
debilitate is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed /dɪˈbɪlɪteɪt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To make feeble; to weaken.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for debilitate, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From debilitatus, the past passive participle of Latin dēbilitō (“to weaken, debilitate”), from the adjective dēbilis (“weak”), itself from de- + habilis (“able”). Equivalent to Latin dēbilitō + -ate (verb-forming suffix). The correct English form is debilitate, spelled D-E-B-I-L-I-T-A-T-E.
Definition
- 1To make feeble; to weaken.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how debilitate appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The American Dream suffered a debilitating effect after the subprime crisis.
Twice, they found themselves behind, seemingly on their way out, and on both occasions they absolutely refused to let their lack of numbers debilitate them.
Etymology
From debilitatus, the past passive participle of Latin dēbilitō (“to weaken, debilitate”), from the adjective dēbilis (“weak”), itself from de- + habilis (“able”). Equivalent to Latin dēbilitō + -ate (verb-forming suffix).
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.