Enervate
(pronounced en-ur-vayt) verb
Definition
1. to lessen or destroy (often gradually, and because of luxury, sloth, or weather conditions) one’s physical, mental, or moral strength, vigor, etc. 2. to weaken or deprive of force, energy, or vitality; cause someone to feel droopy.
[Note: Contrary to what some people believe, this word is not a synonym for verbs such as “energize,” “activate,” or “invigorate.” In fact, it means quite the opposite.]
Main Example
- Having just suffered weeks of anxiety that preceded the recent “fiscal cliff,” we are told there will be at least two or three similar deadlines over the next couple of months--all because lawmakers and the White House could reach agreement on only a fraction of the critical financial issues facing the nation. Unbelievable! The Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan put it best when, in a recent appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” she referred to the cliffhangers as “these dreadful, enervating dramas.” Presumably, she means “enervating” for all the participants and stakeholders--Congress, American business, the nation as a whole, and the international financial community at large.
Workplace Examples
- The past month has been a complete waste of time. In our division’s quest for a new marketing strategy, we’ve had one poorly run meeting after another, packed with endless discussions and long, rambling presentations. And yet we are nowhere close to a decision. Extremely enervating.
- I am so much happier since I came to work for you. My productivity is a lot higher than in that other department where, as I said earlier, the backbiting and the dog-eat-dog, Machiavellian culture drained me of my enthusiasm and drive. It enervated me, to say the least.
Other Examples
- on being asked which are the best months for sightseeing here in Houston, this author saying: “Anytime is fine except during June, July, and August--when the enervating heat and humidity make being outdoors pretty uncomfortable.”
- after two failed attempts to get a building project approved by city commissioners, a distraught manager commenting to a friend: “My boss wants me to make a third attempt, even though the city has further tightened its approval criteria. I am not sure if I am up to it...a sense of enervation has come over me.”
- a colleague commenting: “I’m disappointed in my 56-year-old brother who, flush with that rich severance package he received a couple of years ago, is spending all of his time at country clubs, playing golf, dining on sumptuous meals, putting on weight…All this leisure and luxury, plus an absence of any sort of purpose in life, is enervating him. I know this sounds harsh, but he is on a moral decline!”
- in a speech delivered to the European Parliament, and perhaps in reference to the Continent’s 35-hour work weeks and the enormous amount of time some young people spend in cafes and piazzas, then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair warning European nations to wake up from their shallow and enervating lives or risk being obliterated by the stiff new competition from the likes of China and India
