Debile
adj, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A person with debilism. historical
"A very important group of the mentally abnormal, the oligophrenes, who — according to the degree of lack of intelligence — are called idiots, imbeciles, or debiles, are inter alia also predisposed to misbehaviour because they lack the ability to understand what to do in a situation demanding action."
- 1 Weak; feeble. obsolete
"So, then, it was no surprise to the ranchhold when the buckboard spun to the door, and Raidler took up his debile protégé like a handful of rags and set him down upon the gallery."
- 2 Having debilism. historical
"Being a little debile and unclear of mind he did not realize the risks he was running by passing all his nights in the same bed as the daughter, while he himself was suffering continually from a dammed-up sexual drive."
- 1 lacking bodily or muscular strength or vitality wordnet
Example
More examples"So, then, it was no surprise to the ranchhold when the buckboard spun to the door, and Raidler took up his debile protégé like a handful of rags and set him down upon the gallery."
Etymology
From Middle French débile (“weak”), from Latin dēbilis.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.