Impair
[ɪm'peə] or [ɪm'pɛr]
Definition
(verb.) make worse or less effective; 'His vision was impaired'.
Editor: Percival--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) To make worse; to diminish in quantity, value, excellence, or strength; to deteriorate; as, to impair health, character, the mind, value.
(v. t.) To grow worse; to deteriorate.
(a.) Not fit or appropriate.
(n.) Diminution; injury.
Checker: Sigmund
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. [1]. Deteriorate, injure, vitiate, make worse.[2]. Lessen, diminish, decrease, make less.[3]. Weaken, enfeeble, enervate.
Checker: Phyllis
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Deteriorate, injure, reduce, damage, enfeeble, vitiate, diminish, lessen
ANT:Enhance, improve, augment, repair
Edited by Jonathan
Definition
adj. (Shak.) unsuitable.
v.t. to diminish in quantity value or strength: to injure: to weaken.—v.i. (obs.) to become worse.—n. Impair′ment.
Checker: Maisie
Examples
- Our eyes, though exceedingly useful, ask, when reasonable, only the cheap assistance of spectacles, which could not much impair our finances. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- Bending to a certain extent does not weaken wood, but stretching the same has been found to impair and destroy its strength. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- On the other hand, not to pull it tight enough will leave the cloth loose, which is not only unsightly, but will impair the rubber and destroy the accuracy of the balls rebounding from it. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- I do not know that my mental faculties are impaired. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- But although the bodily powers of the great man were thus impaired, his mental energies retained their pristine vigour. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- Furthermore, there are sure to be times when the service will be interrupted and seriously impaired if such plans for the future are not made and consistently carried out. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- The sense of the awfulness of riches that could never be impaired flooded her mind like a swoon, a death in most marvellous possession, mystic-sure. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- As if his memory were impaired, or his faculties disordered, the prisoner made an effort to rally his attention. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- The seasons during which the ability of private people to accumulate was somewhat impaired, would occur more rarely, and be of shorter continuance. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- My digestion is much impaired, and I am but a poor knife and fork at any time. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- But all natural fabrics, whether they come from plants, like cotton and linen, or from animals, like wool and silk, contain more or less coloring matter, which impairs the whiteness. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- And this quality in language impairs the force of an argument which has many steps. Plato. The Republic.
Typist: Nelly