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defatigable. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
defatigable, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
defatigable in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
defatigable you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
Latin defatigatus, past participle of defatigare (“to tire or weary”).
Pronunciation
Adjective
defatigable (comparative more defatigable, superlative most defatigable)
- (very rare) Easily tired or wearied; capable of being fatigued.
2001, Cleveland Amory, The Cat Who Came for Christmas:The author wishes to acknowledge the help of his peerful editor, Fredrica Friedman, and his defatigable researcher, Susan Hall, as well as that of his severest critic, P. Bear.
Usage notes
Both fatigable and defatigable mean "able to be fatigued", but generally only fatigable is used in the medical sense (such as when referring to a reflex that is easily exhaustible/fatigable). Only in the word indefatigable (= in- + defatigable) does modern English regularly encounter a reminder of the rarer synonym of fatigable, but the word indefatigable tends to be used in a figurative sense (= remarkably persistent) rather than a literal/medical one (= remarkably immune to fatigue in the sense of having high physical fitness). The prefix de- in defatigable appears in its intensifying sense, not in its undoing sense.
References