as in demoralizing
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as in weakening
to diminish the physical strength of
the heart surgery debilitated the college athlete beyond his worst fears
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of debilitating
Murtada Elfadl, Variety, 10 Mar. 2026
Researchers don’t know whether ADHD drugs actually protect against the underlying causes of more debilitating brain diseases.
—Yasmin Tayag, The Atlantic, 25 Feb. 2026
Michelle Marchante, Miami Herald, 30 Apr. 2026
Or take lower back pain, which affects roughly eight in 10 Americans at some point in their lives and can become debilitating if left unaddressed.
—Bryan T. Kelly, Fortune, 29 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for debilitating
Adjective
Another brother, Maksim, is introduced early on as suffering a debilitating injury from the war.
—Murtada Elfadl, Variety, 10 Mar. 2026
Researchers don’t know whether ADHD drugs actually protect against the underlying causes of more debilitating brain diseases.
—Yasmin Tayag, The Atlantic, 25 Feb. 2026
Verb
Haq said most existing Parkinson’s treatments focus on reducing the disease’s debilitating symptoms.
—Michelle Marchante, Miami Herald, 30 Apr. 2026
Or take lower back pain, which affects roughly eight in 10 Americans at some point in their lives and can become debilitating if left unaddressed.
—Bryan T. Kelly, Fortune, 29 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for debilitating
Recent Examples of Synonyms for debilitating
Adjective
-
The injury to his left knee was demoralizing for Edwards, who was showing progress with a right knee injury that had bothered him for most of the previous month.—
Jon Krawczynski,
New York Times,
27 Apr. 2026
-
Other times, the long wait for permanent housing proves demoralizing.—
Andrew Khouri,
Los Angeles Times,
14 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Dunn said Black domestic workers were often forced to work longer on election days by their white families, weakening their chances of casting a ballot.—
Miami Herald,
Miami Herald,
2 May 2026
-
If next week’s jobs report shows a still resilient labor market, that could relieve investors wary of a weakening economic outlook.—
Sarah Min,
CNBC,
1 May 2026
Adjective
-
Asch recommends finding a driver-friendly activity to make time on the road feel less draining, such as listening to an audiobook or podcast.—
Carolyn Stein,
Chicago Tribune,
1 May 2026
-
Long periods of socializing, like a weeklong conference, can feel far more draining than shorter events.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
28 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
After a decade of animosity, opinion polls show Americans’ views of China are softening, especially among the young.—
Andy Browne,
semafor.com,
28 Apr. 2026
-
With hindsight perhaps softening memories of sunstroke, cast members and a number of below-the-line crew now fairly rhapsodize about the uniqueness of the shoot.—
Chris Lee,
Vulture,
27 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
But the most mentally fatiguing aspect, the work found, was having to constantly supervise the AI tools, with some employees overseeing multiple AI agents performing different tasks at the same time.—
Frank Landymore,
Futurism,
12 Mar. 2026
-
My friend was in course of opening up his country house unassisted, and after a fatiguing day discovered that the only practical bed was a child’s affair— long enough but scarcely wider than a crib.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
Martinez on Thursday did not discuss details of the plan but said the city was exhausting all its options while seeking more ways to cut costs.—
Abby Church,
Houston Chronicle,
30 Apr. 2026
-
In some ways, the Wolfpack were already destined for a reset, with veterans like Tre Holloman, Darrion Williams, Quadir Copeland and Ven-Allen Lubin all exhausting their eligibility.—
Brendan Marks,
New York Times,
15 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
And the results are downright discouraging.—
Abby McCloskey,
Twin Cities,
12 Apr. 2026
-
But the growth was slightly slower than economists expected, and a measure of prices accelerated at its fastest pace since 2022 in a potentially discouraging signal for inflation.—
Stan Choe,
Los Angeles Times,
6 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
The city is wasting an enormous amount of city funds by trying to maintain the Housing First program, which involves nearly $1 million per unit of housing and a lifetime of dependency by the homeless individual.—
Teresa Liu,
Daily News,
4 May 2026
-
With the cost of living rising, leaders should create relief instead of collecting money, then wasting it through their vast bureaucracy.—
Kaitlyn Schallhorn,
Oc Register,
4 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Debilitating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/debilitating. Accessed 8 May. 2026.
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