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:
The lawsuit alleges that Snap, the parent company of disappearing messaging app Snapchat, failed to disable and warn its users about “dangerous” features used by predators.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
In recent years, the U.S. and Turkey have also discussed the possibility of delivering the S-400 to American military personnel who could disable the system’s ability to threaten U.S. aircraft.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026
The government also announced plans for a default setting that will disable addictive features like infinite scrolling for older teenagers.
From Barron's ● Jul. 14, 2026
Regardless of whether it does end up being banned for under-16s, Roblox will still need to abide by requirements for all platforms to disable features that let strangers communicate with children, announced alongside the ban.
From BBC ● Jun. 16, 2026
She slashed the onager’s spring cord to disable the weapon, then kept moving.
From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan
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
But if a student disables Opal to use a banned app, school officials are notified on an office dashboard.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 31, 2025
If the lane striping isn’t perfect, though, the lane-keeping assist sometimes disables itself, so I don’t rely on it completely.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 20, 2025
Though infections are at a relative low these days, we're still dealing with COVID-19, which kills hundreds of Americans per week and disables countless others.
From Salon ● Mar. 14, 2025
Several of the drones hover too close to the gates—when they try to cross over, they hit an invisible shield that disables them, sending them clattering to the ground.
From "Warcross" by Marie Lu
Meta last month updated its smart glasses so cameras get disabled if they’ve been tampered with.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
They do divert funds from the low-income and disabled Americans enrolled in the program.
From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2026
Children with ASN include those who have a Co-ordinated Support Plan, Individualised Education Programme or child's plan, and are assessed or declared disabled, or as having another support need.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
The woman -- asking to be identified by her surname, Jeong, for privacy reasons -- said she could not afford to cool the one-room home shared with her husband and disabled daughter.
From Barron's ● Aug. 4, 2026
The Guild is currently supporting fifty riders who were permanently disabled on the job.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
Meet the car owners disabling alarms and reconfiguring dashboards in search of low-tech bliss.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
Changes could include "disabling key addictive features such as 'autoplay' and 'infinite scroll' by default, implementing effective 'screen time breaks', and adapting its recommender system to make it less engagement-oriented", it added.
From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026
Blessing later ran into a wall, disabling the vehicle.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2026
By disabling the protein, known as NFIL3, the scientists found that these engineered immune cells remained active longer and were better able to attack tumors.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 2, 2026
“You’re not the first person in the world to have to deal with a disabling accident!”
From "The Adoration of Jenna Fox" by Mary E. Pearson
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.
