disability
lack of adequate power, strength, or physical or mental ability; incapacity.
a physical or mental impairment, especially one that hinders or prevents a person from performing tasks of daily living, carrying out work or household responsibilities, or engaging in leisure and social activities.
anything that disables or puts one at a disadvantage: His mere six-foot height will be a disability in professional basketball.
the state or condition of being disabled.
legal incapacity; legal disqualification.
Origin of disability
1synonym study For disability
usage note For disability
In many cases there is no reason to mention someone’s disability at all; however, when you do introduce disability as a part of an individual’s whole self, it is usually preferable to be specific: “a woman with cerebral palsy” rather than generically “a woman with a disability.” Sometimes the important information is a person’s membership in the disability community, in which case the umbrella term disability is appropriate: “employer accommodation for an employee with a disability.”
Some people, especially in the disability rights community, prefer to write disability as dis/ability, (dis)ability, or disAbility in an effort to emphasize ability and minimize ableism. In the same spirit, some also use the words able and ability to mean disabled or disability, as in: “Able team members are asked to share accessibility concerns with their team leader” or “The city council will defer to the recommendations of the ability committee.” This use of able and ability is criticized by some for being unclear or overly euphemistic and is not preferred over the straightforward terms disabled and disability.
Other words for disability
1 | impairment, incapability; deficit |
Opposites for disability
Words Nearby disability
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use disability in a sentence
If they’re designed well, for example, AI-based learning tools have been shown to improve children’s critical-thinking and problem-solving skills, and they can be useful for kids with learning disabilities.
Why kids need special protection from AI’s influence | Karen Hao | September 17, 2020 | MIT Technology ReviewCentral Aroostook Association, a Presque Isle nonprofit that helps children with intellectual disabilities, switched to the co-op last year to save 20% on its health premiums, said administrator Tammi Easler.
Only three of 26 Obamacare-era nonprofit health insurance co-ops will soon remain | lbelanger225 | September 6, 2020 | FortuneUsers with disabilities might also want to compare their statistics to their non-wheelchair-using friends.
Smart Watches Could Do More For Wheelchair Users | John Loeppky | September 4, 2020 | FiveThirtyEightAnyone from an underrepresented group — including people of color, women, LGBTQ people and people with disabilities — is welcome to apply to be a mentee.
Hand-Picked Mentors and Networking: Apply for ProPublica’s 2020 Diversity Mentorship Program at ONA | by ProPublica | August 31, 2020 | ProPublicaMTS changed its vetting process in March 2011 after the agency reported a spike in the number of seniors and people with disabilities with reduced-fare passes.
MTS Frequently Overrules Doctors’ Orders on Reduced Fares for the Disabled | Lisa Halverstadt | August 31, 2020 | Voice of San Diego
An IQ below 70 generally indicates someone with intellectual disability (ID).
How the U.S. Justice System Screws Prisoners with Disabilities | Elizabeth Picciuto | December 16, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAs a matter of dollars and cents, America in the short term may be able to afford disability and food stamps.
Bush, Christie, Romney: Who’ll Be the GOP Class Warrior? | Lloyd Green | December 15, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTSen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, a longtime disability advocate, has made HCBS a priority, a Harkin aide told The Daily Beast.
Medicaid Will Give You Money for At-Home Care, but You Might Wait Years | Elizabeth Picciuto | December 2, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTJason Kingsley, the son of one of the producers, would go on to appear 55 times on the show talking about his disability.
What if the pain her mother and doctors observed had nothing to do with disability, but was in fact pain?
U.K. Courts Grant Mother Right to End Her 12-Year-Old Disabled Daughter’s Life | Elizabeth Picciuto | November 4, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTTheir disability however has been largely removed by statutes in all the states, as we shall learn in another place.
Putnam's Handy Law Book for the Layman | Albert Sidney BollesBut a disability arising after the statute has begun to run in his favor will not prevent it from running.
Putnam's Handy Law Book for the Layman | Albert Sidney BollesIn the face of such motives, in the disability under which I labor of stopping the evil, I had to seek my own safety.
The Sword of Honor, volumes 1 & 2 | Eugne SueOn the 14th of October, 1862, Mr. Walter was honorably discharged from the service on account of disability.
Lyman's History of old Walla Walla County, Vol. 2 (of 2) | William Denison Lyman(b) For total or partial disability for less than five years, 60 per cent.
British Dictionary definitions for disability
/ (ˌdɪsəˈbɪlɪtɪ) /
the condition of being unable to perform a task or function because of a physical or mental impairment
something that disables; handicap
lack of necessary intelligence, strength, etc
an incapacity in the eyes of the law to enter into certain transactions
usage For disability
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Browse