enfeeble - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
English
Verb
enfeeble (third-person singular simple present enfeebles, present participle enfeebling, simple past and past participle enfeebled)
- (transitive) To make feeble.
- ✤ “…the gout, with which he had long been tormented, prevailed over the enfeebled powers of nature.”1
- ✤ In the face of enfeebled, self-harming opposition on both sides of the border (and a miserable economic recession on both sides too) he has performed brilliantly.2
- ✤ The Republican-appointed justices may yet enfeeble the executive branch’s ability to implement federal law.3
Etymology
From Middle English enfeblen, from Old French enfeblir. Constructed like en- + feeble.
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ɪnˈfiːbəl/
- Audio (Southern England): 🔊
- Rhymes: -iːbəl
Printed 2026-06-28.
(echo:: @ ⌗)
Footnotes
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1774, Dr Samuel Johnson, Preface to the Works of the English Poets, J. Nichols, Volume II, Page 130, ↩
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2014 September 8, Michael White, “Roll up, roll up! The Amazing Salmond will show a Scotland you won’t believe”, in The Guardian: ↩
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2022 January 13, Mark Joseph Stern, “The Supreme Court Had No Legal Reason to Block Biden’s Workplace Vaccine Rules”, in Slate: ↩