indebolecer

Indebolecer is a rarely attested Spanish verb that appears in some dialectal, arcaic, or highly specialized texts to denote the act of causing someone or something to become weaker or less strong. In this sense, it is used to express a process of weakening, either physical or figurative, similar to but less common than debilitar.

Etymology and form: the term is generally interpreted as a coinage built from the root debil- (from Latin debilis, weak) with the suffix -ecer, a productive pattern in Spanish for forming causative verbs. The prefix in- is not uniformly regular in this formation and its precise morphological behavior varies by text, which contributes to its irregular and nonstandard status in modern Spanish. Because indebolecer is not widely attested in authoritative dictionaries, its exact pronunciation, conjugation, and regional variants are unclear and are often treated as hypothetical or literary.

Usage and status: Indebolecer is not part of standard contemporary Spanish and is often described as either obsolete, dialectal, or stylistically marked. In routine writing, debilitar, debilitarse, or mermar are typically preferred. When indebolecer appears, it is usually in historical texts, poetic or rhetorical contexts, or linguistic discussions about possible verb formations.

See also: debilitar, debilidad, debilitamiento, debilitamiento de la voluntad.