disable
Americanverb (used with object)
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disables,
present (3rd person singular)
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disabled,
past participle, past
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disabling
present participle
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to make unable or unfit; weaken or destroy the capability of; incapacitate.
The detective successfully disabled the bomb.
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to impair or injure (a person or animal) physically or mentally.
The accident disabled him for life.
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to make legally incapable; disqualify.
Minors are legally disabled from entering into a contract.
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Digital Technology. to make (a device, system, or feature) unable to function; turn off.
Some of the car’s advanced safety features can be disabled.
verb
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to make ineffective, unfit, or incapable, as by crippling
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to make or pronounce legally incapable
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to switch off (an electronic device)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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disablesimple
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disablessimple
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have disabledperfect
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has disabledperfect
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am disablingprogressive
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are disablingprogressive
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is disablingprogressive
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have been disablingperfect progressive
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has been disablingperfect progressive
Past
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disabledsimple
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had disabledperfect
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was disablingprogressive
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were disablingprogressive
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had been disablingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of disable
Explanation
When an injury disables someone, it leaves the person seriously hurt, probably for the rest of their life. If a car accident disables you, you are permanently limited in some physical way. Illness, as well as injury, can disable people: for example, diabetes disables some sufferers by leaving them blind or weakening their hearts. A completely different way to disable is to make something unusable or unable to work in a certain way. if you disable your smoke detector while you cook nachos in your smoky oven, it won't work until you reconnect the batteries.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
It uses thiostrepton, a naturally occurring antibiotic, to disable PRX3.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 17, 2026
"These investments are already having a deterrent effect," it said, saying companies offering to disable the LED lights had shut down as a result.
From Barron's ● Sep. 12, 2026
A sophisticated cyberattack could disable payments, hospitals, utilities or financial markets without destroying a single building.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
During the same session, Mary Kish, head of community at Twitch, took viewers through a tutorial on how to disable generative AI training through a user's channel settings.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
Doubtless Master Artemis would have understood the physics of this machine; all Butler cared about was whether or not he could disable it.
From "Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer
The virus that sparked a global pandemic still regularly infects, disables and kills hundreds of people per week.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026
Some regularly put their cars in sport mode, which in some models disables the engine from shutting off when the car is idle.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026
A "dark" vessel -- usually a tanker or cargo carrier -- deliberately disables or manipulates transponders in a bid to go undetected by public tracking systems like Kpler's MarineTraffic.
From Barron's ● Mar. 31, 2026
Technology is a shape or a form that enables certain things and disables others, and there’s room to navigate, but there are also constraints.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2025
Dr. Ashworth secures a mouth prop over me, a hard rubber tool that disables me from closing my mouth.
From "I Can Make This Promise" by Christine Day
John McLachlan, interim chief executive of disability charity Scope, said the new system represented "a positive step in removing unnecessary barriers, to improve the experience of disabled visitors".
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
OpenAI was testing models on ExploitGym, a cybersecurity benchmark, with important safety restraints deliberately disabled.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
I’m disabled and have accumulated $125,000 in credit-card debt.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026
The EU wants children's accounts to remain private, with "risky settings" disabled by default and unknown users prevented from contacting minors.
From Barron's ● Sep. 15, 2026
It can be thrown off, distracted, and disabled.
From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell
“When people have access to medical care through insurance, they tend to undertake activities that can help longevity, like better preventive care, better management of chronic and disabling conditions,” Cohen said.
From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026
"You've got inequalities in urban infrastructure, housing, structural conditions around things like social networks and care. If you put all of those together and then you throw heat in, that's what's disabling," Kirkcaldy said.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
Instagram, which is owned by Meta, has been disabling accounts and taking down some of these pickup or prank videos for violating the platform’s rules against harassment and bullying.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
Meet the car owners disabling alarms and reconfiguring dashboards in search of low-tech bliss.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
In Kearney, Nebraska, citizens were instructed on disabling incendiary bombs with garden hoses.
From "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
