Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To weaken or destroy the strength or vitality of.
- transitive verb Medicine To remove a nerve or part of a nerve.
- adjective Deprived of strength; debilitated.
from The Century Dictionary.
- 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.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To deprive of nerve, force, strength, or courage; to render feeble or impotent; to make effeminate; to impair the moral powers of.
- adjective Weakened; weak; without strength of force.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To
reduce strength orenergy ;debilitate . - verb transitive To
weaken morally ormentally . - verb transitive To
unnerve orfaze . - verb medicine To partially or completely remove a
nerve . - adjective Made
feeble ;weakened .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb weaken mentally or morally
- verb disturb the composure of
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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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 G. M. Godden
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[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 Godden, G M 1909
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OT will someone tell Fiona Miller (on Daily Politics now) to look up the word "enervate" and use it correctly in future.
Guy Fawkes' blog guidofawkes 2010
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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.
A Renegade History of the United States Thaddeus Russell 2010
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Presumably, if nothing else, our fear of hell purports to enervate good behavior.
Menachem Wecker: With Ramadan And Jewish High Holidays Looming, We Should Talk About Hell Menachem Wecker 2011
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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.
Anil Mundra: 'God Of Liberty': The Role Of Religion In American Independence Anil Mundra 2011
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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.
Anil Mundra: 'God Of Liberty': The Role Of Religion In American Independence Anil Mundra 2011
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Presumably, if nothing else, our fear of hell purports to enervate good behavior.
Menachem Wecker: With Ramadan And Jewish High Holidays Looming, We Should Talk About Hell Menachem Wecker 2011
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The Kerry-Lieberman energy bill would enervate America.
Generation Gap 2010
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I am not a fan of the time-wastin 'speechifyin', masturbatory roundtablin ', and high-fallutin' blue-ribbon panels that enervate our government.
Bill Singer: Modern-Day Regulation: The Big Broom After the Circus Parade Passes 2010
rgbrooks commented on the word enervate
You would think enervate would be to get your nerve up, not down.
December 17, 2007
dewiclark29 commented on the word enervate
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.
August 12, 2008
hernesheir commented on the word enervate
Not to be confused with innervate.
May 20, 2010
dhruvsinghal commented on the word enervate
The intense sun in India would always leave you enervated after you've spent the day sightseeing.
May 11, 2013
mohitanand commented on the word enervate
verb: to sap energy from
John preferred to avoid equatorial countries; the intense sun would always leave him enervated after he’d spent the day sightseeing.
October 11, 2016