INFIRMITY • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Infirmity

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/ɪnfˈərmɪti/ Listen

noun

Infirmity n. (pl. infirmities)

The state of being infirm; feebleness; an imperfection or weakness; esp., an unsound, unhealthy, or debilitated state; a disease; a malady; as, infirmity of body or mind. "'T is the infirmity of his age."

A personal frailty or failing; foible; eccentricity; a weakness or defect. "Will you be cured of your infirmity?" "A friend should bear his friend's infirmities." "The house has also its infirmities."

Synonyms: Debility; imbecility; weakness; feebleness; failing; foible; defect; disease; malady. See Debility.

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Etymology of 'Infirmity'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Infirmity" Quotes from Famous Books

... intensified by the ridicule of his fellows. He had even acquired a most ridiculous theory about the degrading effects of civilization, and wanted to go back to a state of barbarism. He said the wilderness was the only true home of man. My father, instead of bearing with what I believe was his infirmity, dryly offered him the means to try his experiment. He started for some place in Texas, saying we would never hear from him again. A month after he wrote for more money. My father replied rather ...

— A First Family of Tasajara • Bret Harte

... allowance, when reading them, for human fallibility and inaccuracy. At the same time, his admiration for the German critics was by no means unqualified. While fully admitting their extraordinary learning, industry, and ingenuity, he complained that their too common infirmity was 'a passion for making history without historical materials,' basing the most dogmatic and positive statements upon faint indications, or upon ingenious conjectures that could not legitimately go beyond a very low degree of probability. The assurance with which these writers undertook by internal ...

— Historical and Political Essays • William Edward Hartpole Lecky

... life of serfdom on the surrounding farm properties. They held it to be the duty of the parent serfs to hand over their children, as soon as they were fit, to the farmers who would work them out; and when age and infirmity had rendered them unfit for further service, they could be hustled back to the reserved pens, there to spend the evening of their lives in raising more young serfs for the rising white generation. ...

— Native Life in South Africa, Before and Since • Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje

... lords of the soil. The Spanish historians who have written upon the conquest of Mexico, all mention the knowledge which the Mexican physicians had of herbs. It was supposed by these last, that for every infirmity there was a remedy in the herbs of the field; and to apply them according to the nature of the malady, was the chief science of these primitive professors of medicine. Much which is now used in European pharmacy is due to the research of Mexican doctors; such ...

— Life in Mexico • Frances Calderon de la Barca

... the professor says: "The scholars proper have, in truth, lost all patience with the etymological objection. 'Save us from such champions!' says Professor Whitney: 'they may be allowed to speak for themselves, since they know best their own infirmity of back and need of braces: the rest of the guild, however, will thank them for nothing.'" Again: "In conclusion, it may be observed that it is mainly among half-taught dabblers in filology that etymological spelling has found its supporters. All true ...

— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 26, July 1880. • Various

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