noun

impairment

Translation

impairment, disability, damage

Examples

He has a visual impairment.

The injury caused serious impairment of her movement.

Grammar Patterns

((of sth.)) an impairment of (sth.) The injury caused serious impairment of her movement.

Similar Words

Synonyms: disability, defect, damage; Antonyms: improvement, enhancement

Etymology

From the verb 'impair' + the noun-forming suffix '-ment'. 'Impair' comes from Old French 'empeirier' (to make worse), from 'im-' (in) + Latin 'peior' (worse).

Memory Tips

Think of 'im-' as 'not' and 'pair' as in a perfect pair. An 'impairment' means something is 'not a perfect pair', i.e., it's damaged or weakened.