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Debility is a rather formal, slightly old-fashioned word for weakness in the body. Doctors and older books use it more than everyday talk. It usually means your strength has drained away — often after a long illness, a hard operation, years of not eating well, or old age. A person with debility may find it hard to walk far, climb , or even get out of bed. This is not the same as feeling tired for one afternoon; it is a deeper, longer weakness that sits in the body. People sometimes stretch it to a country or a system that has grown weak, though actually the home meaning is physical. In ordinary speech most people would just say weakness, or he is very weak after the flu.
虛弱;衰弱(多指病後或長期耗損後的身子,偏書面)
組成From Latin dēbilitās “weakness,” from dēbilis “weak,” built from dē- + habilis (“able”) — so, not able. English took it through Old French debilité and Middle English debylite.
同家族的字
- debilitatethe verb: to make a person or a body weak
- ablethe Latin piece habilis is the same root as English able
原始詞典資料1 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法,原文照列,我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的;有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
debilitynoun/dɪˈbɪlɪti/
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A state of physical or mental weakness.
- […] and is the onlie laſt remedie for all debilities which haue long vexed the body through a hote diſtemper of the Lever, ſuch as a hote Gutte; it allayeth all Inflamations inward & outward.
- As I was in a state of extreme debility, I resolved to sail directly towards the town, as a place where I could most easily procure nourishment. […] I was ready to sink from fatigue and hunger, but being surrounded by a crowd, I thought it politic to rouse all my strength, that no physical debility might be construed into apprehension or conscious guilt.
資料來源:英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary(CC BY-SA 4.0)。 原文照列,未經改寫。