noun / adjective
invalid
Weakened by illness or disability, or a person in that condition.
She cares for her invalid father while he recovers from pneumonia.
Etymology
Latin invalidus means weak or lacking strength. This personal sense retains physical weakness as its basis, rather than the separate sense of legal ineffectiveness.
More examples
- The illness left him an invalid for several months.
- The nurse helps two invalids sit outside in the sunshine.
- In the novel, her invalid husband rarely leaves his room.
Forms
invalid · invalids